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Tourist motivations are the factors to make people wishing to go travel. They want to have personal fulfilment (Coltman, 1989). Crompton (cited in Van Harssel, 1994) discovered that most responders also thought that travel is like a rest and relaxation from routine. However, it did not represent changing their way of lives, people just continue to do the similar things but in a distinct surroundings and physical context. He also indicated that travel can provide for self-exploration, excitement or social interaction. They are the reasons why people travel around the world. Tourists would not learn all the things by their routines or from television and books. It is better for them to get experiences by themselves, because of unedited by anyone else. Afterwards travel can make a marked difference with routines, and it will provide exciting, uncommon or strange things to tourist. Furthermore, the high-tech world increases social lives. For example, people will go to the movies, shopping malls or concerts with friends and colleagues. Different gender, age, social class, retirement, unemployment, social relationships, characters and socialization can affect the decision-making of tourism (Argyle, 1996). Wahab (1975 cited in Burns, 1999) established several travel purposes, they include business tourism, health tourism, cultural tourism, sport tourism and recreational tourism. It can be easy to understand that what people generally travel for. The major reasons of travel are freedom and entertainment which can be defined as pleasure travel (Argyle, 1996). Tourists expect and believe that going on a vacation can partly or fully different needs and wants (Mill and Morrison, 2002). Ryan (1991 cited in Burns, 1999) stated some types of motivation and they are determinants of people who go travelling. Tourist motivations include escape, relaxation, strengthening family togetherness, wish and self-fulfilment, prestige, shopping, social interaction and sexual opportunity. In addition, tourists are also motivated to travel by other factors. For instant, television can attract people to travel in new destinations and experience different cultures (Van Harssel, 1994). Tourists hope to experience various cultures and meet new people over the world because of the curiosity. It is the primary motivation of all visitors (Hudman and Hawkins, 1989). Credit cards are getting common among the world, so it is convenient for tourists to travel around without cash or just with a little cash. Basically, they tend to pay for the accommodation and recreation by credit cards. Additionally, well-educated can increase and stimulate people to go on a vacations, because education excite the curiosity of people. They hope to widen and enrich knowledge as well (Van Harssel, 1994).

The most famous theory to describe motivation is Maslow’s needs hierarchy. Maslow used hierarchy to illustrate human needs as stimulators. There are 5 level hierarchy, including self-actualization, esteem, belonging, security and physiological needs. Subsequently, he added cognitive and aesthetic needs. However, it is not very clear to show that how these two needs fit into the former hierarchy. Human will not be motivated if the lowest needs, which is physiological needs, are satisfied. Next, they will be motivated by following needs, the security needs. Different needs are satisfied such and such (Ross, 1994). However, Page, 2003 argued that Maslow hierarchy model is not faultless, because people do not satisfy their needs hierarchically. Besides, some needs probably emerge at the same time. Nevertheless, the hierarchy model really highlights individual development needs. It also describes that human exert themselves for personal growth. In order to explain the motivations further (Nickerson, 1996), many scholars have developed Maslow’s work since 1950’s. Thus, the needs of people to go travelling can be considered from push and pull factors as well (Lundberg, 1990). Epperson (1983, cited in Lundberg, 1990) indicated that push factors are much more about internal, the personal desires. They motivate people to seek and go on a vacation (Page 2003). They are intended to satisfy different psychological needs (Dann, 1977 cited in Mill and Morrison, 2002). Epperson listed six push motives, such as, escape, self-discovery, relaxation, prestige, challenge and adventure. The push factors of Mainland Chinese tourists are erudition, fame, and having good personal relationship. Therefore, they travel in Hong Kong because of friendly, modern and convenient place for shopping and vacation (Liu et al, 2008). In contrast, pull factors are external elements to the people. They act like stimulators attracting people to travel, such as, advertisement of resorts (Page 2003). It is about the advantages of the certain destinations. They are stunning views, historical places, cultural and sporting events (Liu et al, 2008). Participating or watching sports also motivated people to travel (Hudman and Hawkins, 1989). Accessibility, high-tech impression and consumption are the important pull factors of Mainland Chinese. For these reasons Hong Kong is very successful in fashion retail, so it attracts plenty of Mainland Chinese tourists (Liu et al, 2008). Finding out the importance of push and pull factors, it needs the five main market segments. They are lone tourists, families, couples, friends, and tour groups. For example, escape element is mutually related to lone tourists and couples, these tourists less prefer togetherness. By contrast, Prestige is very important for people who travelling with friends, families and tour groups (Jamrozy, 1992 cited in Mill and Morrison, 2002).

Normally, some destinations have been successful in tourism industry, because they understand the tourist motivation very well. They know how to attract tourist visiting their places (Page, 2003). Certainly, overarching tourists are in the world (Burns, 1999). Stanley Plog announced a famous model of tourist type. It is for classify people into psychographic and allocentrics by visitor characteristic. Psychometrics tourists’ travel purpose is relaxation, so they prefer to do the general activities in familiar destinations. The journey is prearranged. Besides, they do not want any foreign environment or atmosphere. On the other hand, allocentrics people are extroverted, self-confident and willing to meet new people. They are also curious about new experiences, so they generally travel in undeveloped destinations. The schedule is expected to arrange by themselves rather than travel agencies. Thus, it will be more flexible and unrestrained (Nikerson, 1996). Nevertheless, there are some people who do not desire to go travelling, because they think that it is safer or more comfortable to stay in their hometowns. However, if people like travelling, the motivations can be divided into two determinants, they are related to destination and non-related to destination. Travel for business, education, health, religion and visiting friends and relatives provide a few or no choices of going other destinations for instead (Coltman, 1989). Many tourists from Taiwan, the United States and South and Southeast Asia travel in Hong Kong for business. It can show that Hong Kong is an evident and important business hub (Kwong, 1997). People travel abroad because of religion as well, such as pilgrimages, going to historical places, religious bases or religious activities. The most important motivation of travelling among this kind of tourists is visiting the bases. For example, Jews go to Israel. Additionally, visiting historical places and attending religious musical and dramas are propagating the certain faith. These activities can make the tourists adhering to a faith (Hudman and Hawkins, 1989). One of a good example is people travelling for visiting friends and relatives. It is often more important than visiting destinations (Coltman, 1989). In addition, tourists visit their hometown is one of the big motivator (Hudman and Hawkins, 1989). Travel is related to destinations, the motives can be full of curiosity about other culture, detonations, local people and politics (Coltman, 1989). Hall and Page, 2002 stated that all tourism researchers also have a consistent question, why tourists travel. It is a very important to know because everyone also has their own reason. Most people can select regions they like to travel to. For hosts, understanding travel motivations can target potential tourists, serve them and satisfy their needs and wants (Mill and Morrison, 2002). There are various tourism demands around the world. Some countries have always been a popular travel destination, and others are still in development. Every countries and regions also have their own charisma to attract tourists to travel there (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2004). People probably have many reasons to travel in a destination, They even prefer to choose a holiday type (Burns, 1999). It is about motivation which is essential part of consumer behaviour in tourism industry, because motivation is strong related to psychological wishes and needs (Page and Connell, 2006). It is very useful to use motivations and behaviour to classify tourists (Nickerson, 1996). Tourists will choose a destination because of the friendly local people or relaxing environment. The place is always wanted to visit, or some friends suggest the place highly, or the weather is great all the time and the scenery is attractive. Other ordinary factors will be concerned before people plan to go on a trip, such as, recreation, level of interest in history and culture of the place, shopping places, beautiful landscape, hygiene of the destination, ideal weather and cost (Lundberg, 1990 and Holloway, 2002). For instance, the travel purpose of the visitors from Europe, the Middle East and Africa is recreation. The shopping facilities and special features attract them to travel in Hon g Kong (Kwong, 1997).

Actually, motivation is also about different behaviour of everyone (Argyle, 1996). The people, who like to travel around, are also divided into two categories. Some of them prefer having quite journey (Lundberg, 1990). Those people want to get away from the workplace since they always have a stressful lifestyle. They prefer to go to a new place for relaxing and forgetting all pressures (Holloway, 2002). On the contrary, others wish to seek adventure (Lundberg, 1990), but it does not mean standing same pace of workday life. This kind of tourists’ motivation can be defined as “getting away from” instead of “going towards” somebody and something. Going away everyday environment is more important than the interest of visiting new people and regions. (Krippendorf, 2002). It is also important to look at surface factors for understanding the travel reasons of tourists (Nickerson, 1996). McIntosh and Goeldner (1990, cited in Nickerson, 1996) stated that there were 4 kinds of motivators for basic travel. They included status and prestige, physical, interpersonal and cultural motivators. Firstly, status and prestige motivators are about the need for fame. Besides, people think that travel can secure admiration and recognition among their peers and friends. Secondly, physical motivators concern with health. Tourists may participate in sports event and take some recreation, and these actions are the motivators of keeping one’s health. Getting treatment, medical care and attending weight loss camp are related to remedial health motivators. Next, people want to make new friends, leave or visit friends and family, they are also defined as interpersonal motivators. Lastly, cultural motivators describe tourists have ardent curiosity and want to experience other cultures and lifestyle (Nickerson, 1996). Facilitators are also very important for tourists, such as, disposable income, low local currency rate, conveniently accessible places, friendly locals and easy entry requirement. They all can stimulate tourists to visit certain destinations (Holloway, 2002). However, some people are not able to choose their favourite travel destination due to the limited money and time (Argyle, 1996). They usually compare with different destinations which is the most reasonable price to travel. Then, they choose the most appealing places among those destinations. (Coltman, 1989). It is also important to understand the process about what tourists consume for travel experiences which is included costs of time and money (Page, 2003). Consumer behaviour is the process of the people to make decisions when facing various products. They concern about selecting, buying, using and estimating the products which can be invisible and visible (Reisinger, 2009). The main point to understand motivation is more about what products tourists buy. Customers buy the products and services which based on the capacity to satisfy their needs and wants (Page and Connell, 2006). Many authors also connect tourism with consumption together (Greenwood, 1989; Burns and Holden, 1995 and Ritzer, 1998 cited in Burns, 1999). MacCannell (1976 cited in Burns, 1999) indicated that spend not only on recreation and tangible goods, but also on the local cultures that the countries they travel to.

There are various kinds of tourists in the world. They can be categorised by demographic, social, economic, cultural, geographic, psychographic and behavioural. Every kind of tourist also has various needs, behaviour and favourites (Reisinger, 2009). It is usually defined as overnight and same day visitors, such as excursionists. Obviously, excursionists will not seek any accommodation, but they still need to use other transportation and infrastructure (Burns, 1999). Two exactly the same people cannot be found. Additionally, different expectation and viewpoints also can affect decision-making of travel destinations (Page, 2003). Mill and Morrison, 2002 indicated that if children can have opportunity in holiday decision making process, it can further the possibility of the children who are satisfied the holiday choice. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can figure tourist motives out (Pearce, 1993 cited in Page, 2003). Intrinsic motivation is about individual needs to encourage themselves going travel. For example, tourists travel for self-improvement or self-realization. It can make them to have happiness, fulfilment and ego-enhancement. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is about surrounding factors which affect tourist’s attitudes, perceptions and preferences. For example, the tourism in the former Soviet Union, people sent labourers going on a vacation. Then, they would be refreshed and put in more efforts to work (Page, 2003). Erik Cohen announced a very famous tourism typology. He indicated that each kind of tourists interact with different destinations. It also can describe tourists’ behaviours and extent motivations. He separated into four types of tourists, such as, organised mass tourist, individual mass tourist, explorer and drifter. Organised and individual mass tourists keep staying in the ‘environmental bubble’, because people avoid have any unhappy affairs. Thus, they are less in touch with locals. They will arrange their trips as earlier as possible. In contrast, explorer and drifter prefer to understand deeply local culture and interact with locals. They will not remain in the ‘environmental bubble’ (Burns, 1999).

Tourism is the only way that it can let people to get away from daily routine temporarily and spend some holidays in one or more travel destinations. A journey can be changed and planned according to one’s preference (Leiper, 1990 cited in Page, 2003).

Travel for shopping

Why do people go shopping? Mowen, 1995 stated that shopping motivation is from wish, drive or urge. People will go and shop when they are in need of something. In addition, there are a lot of shopping motivations during trips, such as low currency rate and bargain prices. Tourists also buy gifts as souvenirs of travel destinations or for steadying the relationship with people (Tasci et al, 2010). However, some people like shopping because they enjoy the purchasing process, rather than the products (Vipul and Mahendra 2009). They probably just want to escape from workday and experience other cultures (Tasci et al, 2010).

Nowadays, shopping becomes an important part in the tourism industry. It is even a main part of a journey (Holloway, 2002). Shopping in Hong Kong is the main activity for tourists (Kwong, 1997). For example, tourists’ shopping spending makes a powerful impact on Hong Kong local economy. It is still the main spending among all spending categories until 2009. The total expenditure of shopping on overnight and same-day in-town visitors were HK$82.12 billion, it was around US$10.5 (Census and Statistics Department, 2010). Moreover, Mainland Chinese tourists become the highest consumers within all markets in Hong Kong. They spend a good deal of their money on shopping (Wong et al, 2002). When certain of seasons, weeks or months are bargain sales in some countries, plenty of visitors will travel to those places (Holloway, 2002). For example, the beginning of January and July usually are the bargain sales period of most shops in Japan (Japan National Tourism Organization, 2011). In addition, innovative and well-designed shopping malls and department stores are becoming an attraction of leisure activity. These comfortable environments can attract massive tourists to spend in there and enjoy the facilities by themselves (Holloway, 2002).

Travel for business

Business Tourism is about people who go travelling for their work as the main purpose. Business travel is one of a most ancient tourism types. The famous one is “silk road” which was the main connecting route of trading silk from Asia to Europe. Today, businessmen have to travel around the world frequently due to many purposes. They have to present at the meeting, conferences, training courses, exhibitions and trade shows. The trip is significant for them because it concerns about the companies whether can be able to survive in the marketplace (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2004). The motivation of the business tourism is closely related to the companies. For this reason, they usually do not care about the cost of the trip, such as, air tickets prices. They prefer the best business deal to the negligible cost. Moreover, business tourists always consider the most convenient and fastest way to arrive the destinations, so the trustworthy and frequent transportation is very important for them. It is not only flights, but also boats and trains. Then, business tourists can finish missions on time (Holloway, 2002). Page and Connell, 2006 also states that the employees will be reward for good performance if they succeed during the trip. China business travel spent USD$140.9 billion in 2010, it was increase 16.3% in comparison with 2009. According to the current development in China, the figure was just what the country expected. More and more overseas companies also want to negotiate the business with China, because Chinese market is getting a big influence in the world. Therefore, business travel is an important activity (Global Business Travel Association, 2011).

Holloway, 2002 indicated that business tourists need to plan their journeys on the weekdays, because they hope to spend much time with their families at the weekends. It is fair enough since they are always ready whenever for the trip, even at night. They probably have a trip at short notice. The time of staying at home is getting less. In addition, business tourists have to face a lot of unexpected events, such as, delayed flights or traffic jams. They may be lonely and worried. It can be quite stressful for them (Lundberg, 1990). Therefore, some businessmen like to take their partner to the journey. They can make good use of the extra time to have a short pleasure trip. In some cases assistant is needed too if the trip is included leisure time. Owing to travel frequently, some business tourists prefer particular airlines and take advantages of the frequent flyer programmes. Further, the trip cost is usually paid by the company. Thus, they do not select direct and the cheapest itinerary for making sure to be awarded as many miles as they can (Holloway, 2002).

Travel for visiting friends and relatives

Visiting friends and families also has a history. This type of tourism trend has been pandemic from sixteenth century (Girouard, 1978). There are plenty of people migrants around the world. This permanent immigration can develop a tourism trend, visiting friends and relatives. It can provide a demand of tourism in those countries (Page and Connell, 2006). It is a good example in Guangdong Province, plenty of this kind of tourists over there. According to the history, Hong Kong was once part of Guangdong district. Thus, most ancestral homes of the residents are Guangdong. Owing to this special origin, a lot of Guangdong residents mostly have relatives and friends in Hong Kong nowadays (Tsui, 2004). Besides, there were above tens of thousands Hong Kong people migrated to overseas during 1980s to 1990s. The hot countries were The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. However, the relatives and friends of the migrants were still in Hong Kong. Both of them had to be separated for a long time and they would look forward to seeing each other. Therefore, friends and relatives would travel in those countries for visiting the migrants. (Buckley, 1997). In addition, nowadays people go and join the wedding party which is also defined as visiting friends and relatives, it is not just in an earlier stage. The transportations are becoming well developed, people can travel in other countries easily (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2004).

Travel for experiencing other cultures

Every country also has their own local culture. There are 12 cultural elements mainly, they are handicrafts, language, traditions, gastronomy, art and music, history, local work, architecture, religion educational system, dress and leisure activities. All of them can enable tourists to experience more about the local culture of the travel destinations (Mathieson and Wall, 1982). It is usually the main reason of a visitor travelling in a country (McKercher & duCriss, 2003). Tourists can have a good opportunity to deeply understand the local culture through the. For example, they can go to heritage attractions, try the local food and attend the local festival celebration during the journey (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2004). There is a Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong annually. This festival represents togetherness and harmony of each family and people eat moon-cakes with their families together (Yip, 2008). Even though it is also a Chinese Festival, Hong Kong has new ranges and varieties of moon-cakes (Tse, 2007). On the other hand, some tourists prefer to visit in a place which has similar cultural background. Tourists can communicate with the hosts easily because the language is slightly different or no discrepancy. (Reisinger, 2009). For example, Mainland Chinese frequently go travelling in Hong Kong. The cultural distance between this kind of visitors and the hosts is little or even there is not (Law et al, 2008).

Currency rate

This is a significant part in tourism industry. It deeply concerns about the customers’ consumption. Tourists will be willing to travel in that place and they will spend more if the exchange rate is low (Tribe, 2005). People will choose foreign countries if the currency rate is optimal (Greenwood, 2007). Exchange rate is big influence to the tourism industry since the total cost of the trip. It is the main factor of tourist behaviour. Tourists will decide the travel destinations, length of stay, the amount of spending, the frequency of travel time and the travel style because of the exchange rate. For example, people will stay in hostel instead of hotel if the currency rate is high. Some tourists will even change to other travel destinations where are low currency rate (Crouch, 1994). It is a big impact of short haul tourists especially, because this kind of tourists has sudden whims to go travelling. As usual, they compare prices in host countries to their hometown (Greenwood, 2007). Moreover, tourists of group tour also will think that the cost of the trip increases when they are surcharged by the travel agency. When the currency rate is in an unfavourable situation, most tourists will also believe that all tourism products are expensive. They will keep reining on their spending (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2004). However, it is relatively weak influence on business travellers because they prefer to strike bargains rather than the cost of the travel way. For example, Even though the air ticket and hotel cost are increase, they will still continue their journeys (Crouch, 1994). Greenwood, 2007 indicated that exchange rate also affect less in long haul tourists. Normally, the tourists plan their journeys beforehand. Thus, they usually less concern the currency rate and continue to visit selected travel destinations.

Government involvement

Governments contribute greatly to the tourism industry through financial support, they will initiate a lot of new projects which are planning and helping for the tourism. They need to manage and dominate the related component parts as all cost a very large amount to develop (Holloway, 2002). They act a main role in tourism industry. They can be a big help in tourism development (Lundberg, 1990). For example, Istanbul is developed to be a main shopping destination in comparison with neighbouring countries. The biggest and oldest shopping mall in the world is also located in this city. The government will hold a forty day long shopping festival from 18th March to 26th April this year. They also bring many benefits to the visitors. Tourists can enjoy tax free shopping and get discounts on various products. Moreover, a brand new car will be awarded as the big prize everyday within the event (BI-ME staff, 2011). Promoting the tourism at overseas and home is necessary, because a good advertising of the vacation spot can attract many tourists to travel there (Holloway, 2002). For instance, the responsibility of Hong Kong Tourists Association is promoting tourism industry for booming the economy in Hong Kong. It advertises Hong Kong tourism is a fusion of the Orient and the Occident, or traditions and modernism. These themes have been mentioned in a lot of booklets and tour guides (Cheung, 1999). Choi et al, 2008 stated that Hong Kong also has other favourable conditions, such as, advantage in geography, safety, convenient to travel and live and special benefits to Mainland Chinese tourists. The countries, which target tourism revenue as their primary national income, always have tourism development scheme. It is included what new manmade attractions should be built, and attracting more tourists come and spend in the country. However, then they can hurt the industry at the same time. The national leadership can produce wide influence in tourism. They will agitate local to be discrimination or ardour in visitors (Lundberg, 1990).

According to the above literature, there are various travel motivations which have reviewed. Satisfying psychological needs is the main reason. Shopping, business travel and cultural travel are the general travel types of Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong. However, everyone also has different behaviour and two same people do not exist. Therefore, two research questions should be included: is it only pull factors to make more and more Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong? Secondly, what profile of Mainland Chinese tourists travelling in Hong Kong mainly?

Tourist motivations are important factors in understanding tourist behaviour in relation to destination choice and motivation relates to the needs, goals and preference of the tourists. In many tourism motivations are recognized as starting point in order to understand tourist behaviours (Crompton, 1979). Motivations have also been seen as a tool to segment tourism market. According to Backman (1995) motivations are associated with individual basic needs for participating, for instance in activities. Today, motivation tourism is the popular topic in research. The most one popular typology of tourist motivation is Crompton’s (1979) push and pull model which emphasizes that tourist’s choice of a travel destination is influenced by two forces. Push factors that push individuals from home, and pull factors that pull individuals toward a destination. In other words, people are traveling because they are pushed by their internal motives and pulled by external forces of a travel destination (Lam and Hsu, 2006). It has been stated that most push factors derive from individual’s intangible or intrinsic desires, such as desire for escape, adventure seeking, dream fulfilment, novelty seeking, rest and relaxation, health and fitness, prestige, and socialization (Chon, 1989).

The Plearn Wan (Hua Hin) is the first Eco Vintage Village in Thailand. The Plearn Wan village has been established on about three rai site at Phetkasem Road, Hua Hin between soi Hua Hin 38 and 40 opposite Klai Kangwon Palace of King Rama VII. The Eco Vintage Village recaptures the old elegance and classic charm of the old in Hua Hin. Plearn Wan is on an open lawn area with a two-storey wooden building around the village. It reminds a live museum and the vintage settings is based on the villages of previous generations. Plearn Wan aims to be a center for people to learn and experience Hua Hin’s of the past. Plearn Wan’s village is environmentally friendly and use recycled paper wrap and containers. The most of all employees live in the adjacent community. Plear nWan provides an elevator for the elderly and a slope for people with disabilities in response to the concept of free space for everyone. At Plearn Wan village there is restaurant, coffee shop, clothes shop, candy shop and liquor shop from the past. There is plenty of opportunity to take nice photos and buy souvenirs. At weekends there is an open air cinema. On a busy weekend Plearn Wan village is visited several thousands of people. This has become one of the main Hua Hin’s attractions. The entrance to Plearn Wan village is free of charge. The most of tourists go to visit in the village because they need to think about the part when they was young.

This research focuses on the tourist motivation and activities related to the destinations in Plearn Wan in Hua Hin. Based on the reasons that why the tourists interested in Plearn Wan, Hua Hin more than that they go to aboard or shopping in the luxury department stores. Plearn Wan is a new destination attraction in Hua Hin, the tourists can enjoy on behalf of the center of happiness place where times stopped in the past. Moreover the design of village shops made from wood, that can make tourist feel in the 2499 again. Plearn Wan Village, in order to retain to the tourists motivation and developing for interesting place.

Clear title of project : Tourist Motivation and Attraction : A case study of the Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village in Hua Hin.

Concise statement of research problem : The concept of Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village is the old style, also the materials and equipment for the built and construction not enough because it hard to find the same things in order. Such as furniture, vase, plate, bowl, lamp and many things to decorate in the village. From this reason, Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village has develop and create new things successively to the tourist attraction.

Project objective : The objective from this research are:

To analyze the roles of motivation in tourist’s decision making to visit Plearn Wan.
To measure the tourists that satisfy and need to revisit in Plearn Wan.
Conceptual Framework :
Tourists’ Characteristics
– Gender
– Age
– Nationality
– Occupation
Tourist Expectation
Eco Vintage Village in Thailand
Tourists’ satisfaction/dissatisfaction
Result Analysis
Strategy to Develop Tourists’ Motivation
And Further Research
The scope and definition of the study :

This research will occur in Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village, Hua Hin. The questionnaire provided by information counter in front the village. Also the staff or student will give it to the tourists when they free. This research focused on tourist motivation in this place and satisfaction to shops inside and need to revisit in this village next times.

Tourist : a person who visit in Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village, Hua Hin.

Assumptions : all of tourist that go to visit in Plearn Wan Village. Tourist are majority in this village. The satisfaction and need to revisit in this place again.

Limitations : time frame is one of the limitation for this research, it is a short period of time to collect data for the research. The questionnaire will translated to 2 languages, Thai and English only because it’s international language. In questions, which result to the tourist motivation include the satisfaction or disatisfaction in this place.

Background : Plearn Wan is the first Eco Vintage Village in Thailand. It has been established under the business ideology. The site about three rai located on Phetkasem road, Hua Hin, Prachuap Kiri Khun Province. Plearn Wan was actually created under the concept of live museum and perceived in visitor’s a real community or place allowing people to spend the good times together. This village designed in an open lawn area with a two storey wooden building around a green grass median and have its vintage setting and decorations closed to the villages of previous generation.

Literature review :

Tourist motivation is the major factor to success in tourism industries. “Push and pull” theory has already become the effective method to study tourist motivation (Dann ,1977). For a long time, the academic circles pay much attention to the “Push and Pull” force factors of travel destination. The tourist motivation and activities is important for destinations to understand leisure tourist destination choice (Moscardo,1996). Motivation has been referred to as psychological, biological, social needs and wants, including internal (or emotional) and external forces (Chon, 1989). The successful of destination depend on the motivation and attraction in the place. Also it can increased tourist come to travel and visit it effected to market share stronger economic (Lewis,1993).

The concept of motivation and attraction result the fact that tourists’ satisfaction at destination. Destination marketing is the possibilities of arranging more tourism activities. The regional cooperation needs to be further coordinated and more marketing efforts and investment is required. For Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village, it would be better to emphasize the variety of village offers rather than the different style, since motives vary more between different types of village than between different regions. Tourists are persons seeking satisfying leisure experiences on trip away from home. This means a search for nuclear elements of attractions that individuals can experience in person. The tourists’ psychology reveal that they are motivated by a wide range of needs. These might included the need for rest, relaxation, novelty, education, regression, or prestige. Today, Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village is a new beautiful place that motivate tourist visitor (Berger, Arthur, 1993).

Destination development becomes an important issue in tourism studies. Understanding tourism motivation and activities will help destinations improve their products and services. Not only enhance the quality of products, more importantly is to be aware of the exact needs of target tourists and where the main tourist markets area. The principal motivation for a business or region to serve tourist are generally economic. An individual business is interested primarily in its own revenues and costs, while a community or region in concerned with tourism’s overall contribution to the economy, as well as its social and environmental impact. A good understanding of tourism’s economic impacts is therefore important for tourism industry, government officials and community

Nowadays, in the are of motivation and attraction to destination become to many research. Only few studies concentrate on examining the motivations and profiles of health and wellbeing tourists. Some studies have focused on different sub-sectors, such as spa tourists, yoga tourists or spiritual tourists (Lehto, 2006). For Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village focused on the old live style building that can make the tourists feel like they was young because in village decorated shop and sell the products from the past. Also tourist never see in this day before but they can find and by it to collect in this place. Moreover, tourism’s economic impacts are therefore and important consideration in state, regional and community planning and economic development. Economic impacts are also important factors in marketing and management decision. Communities therefore need to understand the relative importance of tourism to their region, including tourism’s contribution to economic activity in the area. The uncertain market for tourism in Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village means that visitor attraction must work hard to understand what the tourists wanted and then improving and developing to the best attraction and motivated the tourist need to visit. The motivations are connected to individuals’ basic needs for participating diverse activities, developing preferences, and expecting satisfaction. The motivations of wellbeing and wellness activities, purchasing wellbeing and wellness products and services or participating in wellbeing holiday are also connected to customers’ needs and interests (Backman , 1995). Plearn Wan has been set the method to improve to be better and interesting to tourists destination choice for travel and relax on the weekend.

The quality of the environment, both natural and man-made are essential to tourism. However, tourism’s relationship with the environment is complex. It involves many activities that can have adverse environmental effects. Many of these impacts are linked with the construction of general infrastructure such as roads and airports, and of tourism facilities, including resorts, hotels, restaurants, shops, golf courses and marinas. The negative impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which it depends. On the other hand, tourism has the potential to create beneficial effects on the environment by contributing to environmental protection and conservation. It is a way to raise awareness of environmental values and it can serve as a tool to finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance.

Environment nearby a tourism destination interrelate with tourism action happening in the Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village. A change in whichever environment can change the pattern of tourism. As follow :

Political : There are several concerns to consider that affecting in tourism the other state political people are making the small thing to a large extent and they are making the public in to troubles these impacts have a serious impact on the travel and tourism industry, leading to increased business failures demise of certain destinations.

Climate : is obviously important for tourism, many tourists find it to have a high change of sunny and warm weather at their holiday destination, in order to relax by swimming, sun bathing and sight seeing in foreign place. For the global tourism industry, climate change bring more risks than opportunities. There will be regional and seasonal shifts in tourist flows resulting in both winners. However, it is undoubted that the tourism will continue to be a growth sector and despite the challenge of climate change. In Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village is friendly with environment because it building around green grass median and designed buildings by wood.

The effective manager must not only have very good knowledge of the region where they are personally based, but the should also from their own are which are linked to it insignificant itineraries. Managers become more competent, tourism boards more effective on their expenditure, marketer target and researchers deliver and insightful analysis. Further analysis is required to understand the tourism system of certain type of tourism. Also A Whole Tourism System is useful in analyzing in tourism industry to successful in each destination (Leiper, 1995).

Data required :

The data required for this research are the tourist satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the destination. This research based on the tourist motivation and attraction in the destination choice. Theory related on Push and pull factor in order and analyze the data. Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village, Hua Hin internal data, such as background information and activities in the village, are necessary for better educating and understanding.

Data source :

The data source in this research divided by two parts, the first data is which collect from the tourist directly and the secondary collect from shop owner in Plearn Wan Eco Vintage Village, and from the literature review, such as theories, book, and journal.

Data collection technique :

Researcher will random simple the method for selecting the sample that present the population. Questionnaire will be used as instrument to collect the data from Plearn Wan Village tourists’ who

Visit in this place. Questionnaire is one of the most commonly use for data collection in research (Veal,2005). The reasons for using questionnaire are that it has less disturb to tourist or visitor than other method, as well as, it is the quickest way to collect the data with in the time limitation of this research. In this research, the questionnaire will be translated to 2 languages, Thai and English only because in this destination is new attraction in Hua Hin that is not know well in foreigner. The questionnaire will be given to tourists and visitors checking at the front of village and ask the question when they free or checking out. Moreover the use of the Internet has also become a valuable tool to collect, capture, and share information from different sources. Internet provides many capabilities, including the capability to transfer data files electronically. Large amounts of data can be transferred from one location to another in a matter of seconds. This capability can improve the timeliness of obtaining information necessary to support organizational performance measurement analyses. Many books and manuals are available that provide information on use of internet.

Data analysis :

In this research, data will be analyzed using descriptive-Inferential statistic and SPSS computer system(Statistic Package for the Social Science).

Berger, Arthur, 1993 Vietnam Tourism/Arthur Asa Berger, Retrieved from : http://www.google.com/books?hl=th&lr=&id=KETzAmFyu3gC&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=whole+tourism+systems+in+vietnam&ots=tRyyqyKfUI&sig=HozafJDFUFl_BEg6UYTZHEOVc2Y#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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Chon, K.S., 1989. Understanding recreational travelers’ motivation, attitudes, and

satisfaction. The Tourist Review 44 (1), 3-7.

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Leiper, N. 1995 Tourism Management Collingwood, VIC : TAFE Publications

The tourism business around the world which is one of the most susceptible and vulnerable sectors, must always manage and survive from the global crises. In recent decades, the tourism industry in many countries all over the world has experienced major crises from natural disasters such as hurricanes, storm, and tsunami to terrorist attacks, political instability, and economic recession. Generally, disasters are large non-controllable problems that evaluate the capability of nations and communities to effectively protect the population and its ability to recover after the disasters. No tourist destination is immune to such crisis. Hence, the global tourism industry requires strategies and set of directions which help tourism businesses prepare a way to manage a crisis event from its onset and rapidly implement a recovery strategy. The purpose of this essay is to examine the post-disaster destination marketing viewpoint, its effects on the city of New Orleans, and the attempt to reposition as a premier destination for domestic and international of New Orleans after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive natural disaster in American history in August 2005. Besides, this essay will critically examine the effectiveness of recovery marketing strategies undertaken by the city’s tourism marketing organizations and the lessons learned for post disaster market repositioning are also discussed.

The first section will define the tourist destination, destination crisis, tourism disaster, and a narrative of vital tourism statistics for the city of New Orleans before the hurricane. The second section will mention the effects of the hurricane on the New Orleans tourism. Finally, the third phase will critically examine the effectiveness of recovery marketing strategies undertaken by the city’s tourism marketing organizations.

According to Beirman (2003), a destination is defined as a country, state, region, city or town which is marketed or markets itself as a place for tourist to visit. Many countries’ main income is collected from tourism activities; they have invested heavily in tourism and required a high level of economic dependence on inbound tourism. The economic disruption to the country, state or region is considered as a result in the viability of a destination and it could be a result in loss of income, unemployment and poverty. However, these implications do not determine the choice of destination in tourists and their prime concern is to travel to destinations that satisfy their own desires with minimum threats to their safety and well-being. Therefore, the marketing of destination crisis is no longer being treated as a problem of a specific destination; it is now an issue of global tourism industry and become a critical political, economic and social priority for many nations which tourism is a significant industry.

Faulkner and Russell (2000, cited in Beirman 2003) defined a disaster as ‘a tourism destination is confronted with sudden, unpredictable, catastrophic changes over which it has little control’. In order to modify the definition of Faulkner and Russell, Beirman defines a destination crisis as ‘a situation requiring radical management action in response to events beyond the internal control of the organisation, necessitating urgent adaptation of marketing and operational practices to restore the confidence of employees, associated enterprises and consumers in the viability of the destination’.

For many years, New Orleans was an ideal vacation destination and it is the world famous tourist destination due to its rich cultural heritage, copiousness of unique food and many opportunities to enjoy local art, music and festivals. Throughout the past 30 years, New Orleans focuses on its efforts to attract tourists by constantly redefine its image through all taglines such as ‘The Crescent City’, ‘The Gateway to the Mississippi Valley’, ‘America’s Most Interesting City’, ‘The City that Care Forgot’, and the ‘The Big Easy’ (Clement 2008). Moreover, it often cited as “European” charm and the unique French Quarter historic district, thus, there is a large number of tourists visit the city for many years to take part in the distinct experience that New Orleans has offered as a vacation venue. In January 2005, just seven months before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was ranked sixth among the top United States vacation destinations which were conducted by the University of New Orleans (UNO) Hospitality Research Centre (Chacko and Marcell 2008). Statistically, in 2004, tourism of New Orleans was one of the main economic engines of the city and the employment in hospitality and leisure accounted around 80,827 jobs generating $30 million in state income taxes. Besides, the number of visitors came to city reach to peak 10.1 million and spent $4.9 billion in 2004. Before the Hurricane Katrina occurred, the tourism industry accounted for 3.8% of Gross State Product, provided 175,000 direct jobs, and generated under 8% of total tax revenues of the states (Louisiana Research Team 2004).

New Orleans is a unique circumstance of Hurricane Katrina. Faulkner (2001) addressed the difference between the definition of crises and disaster that crisis was defined as ‘induced by the actions or inactions of the organization’ while a disaster was considered to be an ‘induced natural phenomena or external human action’. The terrorist attack September 11, 2001 in the U.S and Chernobyl nuclear accident would be classified as crises while the Turkey earthquake and the plane crash in Lockerbie were disasters. According to Faulkner’s definition, Hurricane Katrina would have been classified as a disaster with over 1,300 died; 228,000 housing units were flooded in the New Orleans metropolitan area and over 70% of 188,000 housing units were damaged by the storm and subsequent flood (Olshansky et al. 2008). However, the poorly man-made concrete levee walls which were designed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, a federal agency aimed to protect the city breached, did the flood waters deluge 80% of the city and created a crisis of gigantic proportions. In addition, federal, state, and local government authorities lacked of capacity in preparing and re-acting in a timely manner to the city citizen’s needs. Therefore, the Hurricane Katrina can be described as an induced natural phenomenon or a disaster followed by the inactions of organizations or a crisis.

Two major organisations responsible for the overall tourism and hospitality marketing of the New Orleans are the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) and the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (NOTMC). The primary mission of NOMCVB is bring meetings, conventions, and tour groups to the city, supply many hotels, restaurants, attractions and provide tourism goods and services for customers. This organisation uses personal selling as the primary sales strategy and solicits business from several tourism intermediaries such as meeting planners and tour operators. The second organisation’s goal is to spur the city visitation and uses two million dollar in its budget for advertising and positioning the leisure market of New Orleans. Besides, tourism marketers capitalise New Orleans’s strength as an exotic, unique, and ‘foreign’ locale (Stanonis 2006). In addition, just two months before Katrina, marketers produced a television commercial which is part of the summer campaign 2005, featuring New Orleans’s well-known and talented local musicians with titled ‘Do They Play Jazz in Heaven?’ According to Kotler et al. (2005), the appeal of the message was more emotional than rational and included the lines ‘do they play jazz in heaven, in New Orleans we know they do’ (Chacko and Marcell 2008). These messages reinforced the well-established position of the city as an exciting and popular destination with great food and music. However, the arrival of Katrina made a major shift in positioning strategy in producing hundreds of hours of negative publicity in the mass media.

Unfortunately, New Orleans’s city was truly in a state of disaster after Hurricane Katrina. The storm and flooding are not only washed away physical infrastructure of the city, but also eroded the perception of the city’s tourism destination. According to Northington (cited in Chacko and Marcell 2008), the city loss $15.3 million and this was potentially devastating to New Orleans’s tourism industry, especially the loss of economic impact from many festivals and events that it hosts. However, the biggest obstacle that New Orleans’ tourism industry has to face is the tarnished perception as a tourist destination of the city. Faulkner (2001) claimed that the power of media and tendency in lingering negative images, the destination usually takes longer to recover than the period requires services restore to normal.

The tourism industry of New Orleans has met a lot of challenges after Hurricane Katrina. Prior the disaster, the research focused on measuring the industry and profiling the visitors to New Orleans, but now the focus has sharply shifted to measuring the perceptions of visitors about New Orleans. Mayor C. Ray Nagin said in an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune that ‘We have an image challenge throughout the country. You ask what New Orleans is like today, and any people only have images of a city in crisis. And that’s a concern, that they don’t see the rebuilding that is going on’ (Thevenot 2005). Moreover, due to the national and international media continued to display images of a ravaged city every detail, the tourism industry was getting worse and worse. According to journalist Eric Morgan (2008), ‘because of the media, people believe we have infrastructure issues, hotels aren’t open, restaurants aren’t operational, and there are no supporting service industry workers’. In March 2006, the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation conducted a perceptions study of a panel of 5,000 online travellers, 22% indicated they believed that some neighbourhoods of New Orleans still had standing flood water from Hurricane Katrina, 14% of them believed New Orleans is not a safe place to visit because of contaminated air or drinking water, and 12% indicated that the historic districts in New Orleans are still destroyed or devastated. However, the optimism seems to have increased over time with 77% of meeting planners over the three quarter between October 2005 and January 2006 indicated that they were “very optimistic” about the sufficient recovery of New Orleans in regaining its status as a major destination city. Although meeting planners fully expect city’s recovery, they believe it will be a slow process (Chacko and Marcell 2008).

In reality, New Orleans is different from the potential leisure travellers’ perception. The city’s tap water was safe to drink according to city health officials and there is no standing water on the streets. Transportation and airline are suitable to handle travellers and 80% of hotel room inventory has rebounded as pre-Katrina levels. Nevertheless, many flooded neighbourhoods’ recovery is still slow and the city is continued framing news coverage in these environments and undermining positive messages by the media. Therefore, the challenge is to find the appropriate marketing strategies to mitigate the impacts of disaster for New Orleans.

As the result of the Katrina disaster, the NOMCVB, NOTMC, and other tourism organizations have elaborated on their past branding campaigns and created new campaigns to change perceptions of potential travellers and using brand elements such as new slogans and logos to alter the images of New Orleans. The slogans and themes try to counteract negative images which were played out in the national media and reconstruct and increase brand identity of New Orleans. According to Braun-LaTour, LaTour, and Loftus (2006), ‘reminding consumers of their past connection with a brand may be a particularly effective way to repair the brand’s image after a crisis situation’. Slogans were launched through branding campaigns of organisations such as ‘fall in love with Louisiana all over again’, ‘New Orleans: Happenin’ everyday’, ‘do you know what it means to Miss New Orleans? We know you do’ and etc. to rebrand New Orleans as a multicultural destination and created a sentimental image of New Orleans, divert attention of travellers from the human suffering’s reality, physical destruction and stimulate consumer desires to travel to the city by constructing a narrative of past grandeur. According to Greenberg (2000), the urban branding campaigns function not only as ‘texts-on-cities’ but also power-laden ‘texts-as-cities’ that position of organisations and tourism professionals as important voices in the articulation of the collective identity of the city and thus ultimately the urban brand.

In January 2007, with support from Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, the NOMCVB launched ‘an aggressive, strategic, marketing, public relations and direct sales campaign designed to celebrate its authentic culture, lure domestic and international visitors back, preserve the city’s leading industry (hospitality) and overcome misperceptions about New Orleans among consumers’ (NOMCVB Press Release 2007). The ‘Forever New Orleans’ campaign is an international branding campaign which was designed to re-brand the city internationally by showcasing the confidence of hospitality industry in New Orleans and developing a deeper understanding of the city culture as unique and authentic. It uses headlines in outdoor advertisements and print campaigns such as ‘New Orleans is Open. To Just About Anything’, ‘Soul is Waterproof’, ‘Old World, New Promise’ and other phrases to celebrate a spirit of swagger, appeal the meetings industry, travel trade professionals and the traveling public. According to Morgan (2008), the largest out-of-home advertising company in the United States – CBS Outdoor donated 44 billboards worth a valued of $3 million to New Orleans. Besides, the 30 minutes television show ‘A Whole New Orleans’ attempts to attract visitors with displays of the city’s most authentic, historic destination and unique culture.

The NOMCVB and other tourism professionals try to increase the development of New Orleans’s tourism post Katrina and mention the perspective of ‘internalising the brand’ as a major ingredient in branding New Orleans as an entertainment destination (Gotham 2007). New urban rebranding campaigns are being implemented in order to present ‘authentic’ image of New Orleans as clearly demarcated, disconnected, and segregated from flooded neighbourhoods by tourism professionals. Besides, a new industry of ‘disaster tourism’, for example ‘Hurricane Katrina: America’s Worst Catastrophe!’ tour through devastated neighbourhoods of Gray Line New Orleans Bus Tours focused on ordinary places that have historical and cultural significance thereby mobilizing travellers to visit them. Moreover, in order to attract corporate brands to invest in New Orleans, political and economic elites have pushed for the development of lucrative tax subsidies and help finance the rebuilding effort. Therefore, the above points demonstrate that tourism organisations are trying to marketing the imaginary of New Orleans base on entertainment version to attract investment and rebuild the city. The branding strategy is a new method to promote urban place to align local political interests with transnational corporate entertainment to organise urban rebuilding. Rebranding New Orleans post-Katrina is not just attracting consumers and visitors to spend money in the city, but also ‘about socializing residents to view the city as a brand and imagining an urban future that conforms to a semiotic script’ (Gotham 2007).

Due to tourism professionals mention the perspective of ‘internalising the brand’ as a major ingredient in branding New Orleans as an entertainment destination, there are some conflicts intrinsic in the understanding of urban brands. Firstly, there is the lack of clear and understandable object capable of being branded. Cities and places are multifaceted and complicated systems of organization and they contain a range of different groups, diverse identities and conflicted social relations. Branding destinations is more complex and challenging than other goods and services because of the existence and interdependence of multiple stakeholders, multiple components and multiple suppliers involved in the tourism service delivery (Buhalis 2000) and especially when it involves national characteristics and loyalties and popular permission of whole population. The second is the lack of control between urban branding organisations and branding campaigns when they deal with uncertain and unstable environment of many stakeholders who have diverse interests, contending perceptions and urban visions (Park and Petrick 2005). The branding work of New Orleans’s tourism professionals are informed by market research and tourist trends, however, they do not know whether the campaigns are successful or not. Besides, the branding process is full of instability and uncertainty. Moreover, the urban branding’s unpredictability derives from gained knowledge about visitors through surveys is partial and incomplete because consumer’s desires and preferences always change. Thirdly, there is exist the risk that visitors and residents may reject the images of brand and view them as irrelevant, inauthentic or affronts to local culture. Additionally, there is the lack of consensus about the positive or negative effects of tourism in the city and a clear differentiation between residents who favour tourism and those who against it. In the construction of urban reality and produce meanings, residents are actively involved in and sometimes they are challenge the dominant imaginary of urban and brand. Due to the views of residents about New Orleans are not singular or fixed, thus, ‘internalising the brand’ is no means ensured or guaranteed. There is unclear and questionable about the partial internalisation whether it is realised as a vehicle for enhancing brand value or not when some residents may incorporate some affective links with the New Orleans brand into their lives.

In summary, hurricane Katrina has weakened the New Orleans’s tourism industry, displaced thousands of people, problematized meanings of community identity, and can cause wholesale changes to all aspects of tourism destination management. Numerous prescriptive strategies have provided examples, templates and checklists for tourism agencies to formulate marketing strategies which are the very important in the recovery process. Restoring the urban brand strategy of New Orleans is a differentiation and diversification process whereby local tourism organizations harness and construct destination images in order to control consumer impressions and understandings of a particular locale. Although urban brand has network of power operate and clear profiteering motives, it is also important to recognise branding as a contradictory process with unpredictable outcome, unforeseen consequences and facing a long road to recover destination image. However, tourism marketers of the city are using repositioning strategy or (re)brand strategy to make New Orleans regain its status as an outstanding tourism destination.

There are numerous factors influencing demand from the tourist generating area. These are in terms of economic determinants, social determinants and political determinants.

“An individual may be motivated to travel, the ability to do so will depend on a

number of factors related to both the individual and the supply environment”. (R.K

Malhotra 1997)

To begin with, economic determinant includes personal income. Distribution of income and value of currency. Personal income is the availability of the finance. This is the most evident influencing tourism demand. Incomes and expenditures are closely linked and as a result of that when price increases, demand decreases and income increases, demand decreases and income increases, the price remain the same, then demand increases. Distribution of income within a tourist generating region is likely to affect tourism demand and supply. For example, twisted income distribution in India where there are relatively few wealthy and many poor households, is likely to limit the proportion of people who can afford to travel internationally. This people can be famous film stars who go on a holiday.

Furthermore, exchange rates have a far accomplishment influence on tourism demand from generating area and international tourism. It is highly vulnerable to exchange rate variations that vary the cost of a holiday significantly. “It is widely acknowledged that both domestic and international tourism make an ‘economic contribution’ to a destination, that tourism has positive and negative ‘economic impacts’ and that it brings ‘benefits and costs’ to a destination”.( Dwyer L, Forsyth P, and Dwyer ,W .2010). Economical options are often preferred while dealing with cost of travel as more money is needed at the cost of product. Before an individual decides to travel or gets a reason to travel the very first thing to be considered is the money. This will enhance the success of the journey. For example, people will want to enjoy to their optimal level, therefore will chose luxury products which comes at a higher cost. these higher costs are often conversed through competitive prices as supply is high , and sometimes exchange rates supports and as a result tourist from Australia, New Zealand, America get more on their dollar value which simply means the Fiji dollar diminishes, and they have more money to spend in Fiji if Fiji becomes their tourist destination region. Thus, it leads to a change in tourism demand and supply.

Similarly, social element also influences tourism demand. This includes demographic variable. For example, the age structure, a 60 year man would prefer a very discreet area where he can be alone by himself from all the noise and when compared to a 15 year old kid who want to enjoy his holiday with lots of fun and will want to have a blast. Thus, there is a gap which often applies on the type of travel product people chose and the behaviour and the surrounding nature of an individual have a major impact on the demand. The impact of education level can also be a determined of both employment natures and income earning potential for this type of practice. The stage in the family life cycle has a bearing on the availability of time and disposable income available for tourism. Holiday entitlements leads increase in the demand since holidays are being paid and every individual wants to relax and have some time off from their daily life. There are other factor such as home ownership, occupation, ethnic group, crisis, and threats such as terrorism , epidemic diseases and natural disasters such as the tsunami which hit japan recently and it leads t o decrease in tourism demand since people will now try to restructure their houses and use the money which has been saved for a holiday.

Additionally, political elements such as government tax policies and controls on tourist spending influence the tourism demand and supply. There are approaches taken by government to influence demand to a great extent. For example, exchange control, currency export, prohibition, taxation, visa regulations and many more. Many governments have used tourism as a source of tax revenue because when tourist comes to Fiji they are given the tourist price and not the local price and in this way certain percentage of tax being paid goes to government as tax revenue.

Subsequently, the demand at a tourist destination is influenced by economic and political factors. The dominant among these are the “price” of the tourism product and services and its quality. In today’s world every individual is going for cheaper products since the cost of living is very high. In a tourism industry the suppliers have to be very well with the of price their goods but due to price competition and oligopoly companies operating in countries it is required to stay in the price limit. According to Burkart & Medik, 1981, tourism suppliers, such as in the accommodation and transport sectors may well price their goods and services independently, but a close watch on the behaviour of their competitors is clearly necessary. Thus, when there is a lot of competition the price goes down and the customers benefit. In order to control the price of goods and services, the government intervenes in between and gives a fixed price for these companies to operate.

Equally as demand increases it influence the supply level of the tourism industry. This factor is known as the Geographic factor .These factors are mainly seasonality and attraction. Tourism demand goes up and down throughout the year.

“This temporal peaking pattern is called seasonality”. (Norbert Vanhove 2005)”.

The supply is influenced as the seasonal pattern affects the occupancy rate of accommodation. For example, during the peak season, the accommodation is almost full meaning that there is not enough to cater for that season which results in the rise of price. On the other hand, since tourism supply is perishable at off peak season business is lost. In tourism regions, seasonality leads to seasonal employment, and the correlative seasonal unemployment causes welfare problems. Attraction is also one of the key supply elements in the tourism sector.

“Without attractions there is no tourism”. (Vanhove, N)

Primary natural attractions, man-made and purpose built attractions are the elements of ‘attractions’. Good attraction makes a particular place famous which influences supply. For example, Fiji is very famous for white sandy beaches and known as a paradise and hence, a lot of tourists visit Fiji just because of these attractions. The magic of Fiji’s natural beauty is matched only by the world-famous friendliness of its people, and their diverse, captivating culture. Thus, geographic factor also influences the supply in terms of seasonal employment and other attractions.

In addition destination factors are another factor which influences the supply on tourism regions. There are many elements of the destination factors, but the main aspects of destination factors are ‘quality of the products’ and ‘technology’. The quality of the products provides the main image of a particular company. According to Peter Keller &Thomas Beiger, people who has less leisure time has more money therefore prefer expensive high-quality products and services which are to be developed personally and in a timesaving manner.

Media also plays an important part while promoting the products for particular company. For example, at the tourist generating region, rich people looks at the advertisements on the internet and prefer for the high quality expensive product but when reaches the destination region they do not find the products to their expectations. The raise in technology also plays a major part in the supply influence of the tourist regions. Its affluences job which relates to less man power, leads to savings for a particular company. For example, computer reservations systems which replaced manual bookings where by cost and time were saved. On another hand, when high technology advertisements are created in such a way and it leads maximum attraction. For example, three dimensional videos are shot for room views, beaches, corals, mountains to maximise attraction. Thus, technology and media influences the supply of the tourism industry.

To conclude, it is indeed true that where there is a demand, there is supply, and hence sometimes supply do create demand. These are always determined by some factors which influence the demand and supply of the tourism industry. Some of these factors are individual preference, economic factor and others. The supply is also determined by geographic factor, technology, and media. This is very much evident in the tourism industry. Thus, according to Oliver Goldsmith, “Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations”.

(Word Limit: Approximately 1234 words)

Critically consider the argument that Urry’s concept of the ‘tourist gaze’ places too much emphasis on the visual.

Urry’s ‘tourist gaze’ remains one of the most influential concepts in tourism research. The ideas developed by Urry are still widely quoted and relevant today but a major criticism of his work is that too much emphasis is placed on the visual aspects of being a tourist rather than the whole experience. This essay will investigate this claim before concluding whether or not this is the case.

In order to do this, this essay will be broken into several parts. The first section will look at what the ‘tourist gaze’ actually is. It is important to have a definition of this term before proceeding with the rest of the assignment. The second part of this essay will draw on wider academic research to test whether or not Urry’s ideas do place too much emphasis on the visual. The final part of this essay will bring together all the arguments to form some sort of conclusion.

In order to fully understand the ‘tourist gaze’ it would be useful to have a clear understanding of what a tourist is and what tourism as an activity is. Turner et al. (2005) define a tourist as, “someone who has travelled to another place for a brief sojourn, an experience that necessarily entails a distinct period of transition and discontinuity from the everyday world” (p. 11). Urry (2002) describes the act of tourism as, “a leisure activity which presupposes its opposite, namely regulated and organised work. It is one manifestation of how work and leisure are organised as separate and regulated spheres of social practice in ‘modern’ societies” (p. 2). The environments that these tourists visit are subject to what Urry (1990) has described as the ‘tourist gaze’. Urry states that tourists are, “directed to features of the landscape that, which separate them off from everyday experience. Such aspects are viewed because they are taken to be in some sense out of the ordinary”. The tourist and the viewpoints are manipulated, “so that the gaze falls upon what the gazer expects to see” (Turner et al, 2005: 11). Most of the time this gaze is from a static location but if it is mobile then it is directed from an insulated environment such as from a train window or a sign-posted route. The tourist only sees what they are supposed to see. Urry (1990) states, “the typical tourist experience is…to see named scenes through a frame, such as the hotel window, the car windscreen or the window of the coach” (p. 100). In a sense, real life is suspended or hidden away in these places so that the tourist can gaze upon what upon they expect to see. For example, in the Lake District in England, houses can only be built to very exacting specifications with traditional methods and materials. This helps to preserve the traditional look of the area. This expectation has been built up by promotional material such as brochures and adverts on the television. Goss (1993) argues that tourism marketing provide tourists with representational images of the places they are about to visit and this helps form an imaginary construction for the tourist. Culler (1981) argues that tourists read the landscape for anything that represents these pre-established notions.

In The Tourist Gaze, Urry (1990) states that when we go away and become tourists, “we look at the environment…we gaze at what we encounter…and the gaze is socially constructed” (p. 1). Perkins and Thorns (2001) state that there is no single uniform gaze, rather it is, “varied temporally and across social groups and that the concept of the gaze encapsulates tourists’ experiences and is an interpretation of the things they seek and do when on holiday” (p. 187). Perkins and Thorns (2001) go on to argue that, “the gaze is a concept which comprises a way of looking at the world which simultaneously forms what is seen and the way of seeing” (p 187).

There have been numerous criticisms leveled at Urry’s concept of the ‘tourist gaze’. Perhaps the most common one and of most interest to this essay is that the gaze doesn’t fully capture the tourist experience. Perkins and Thorns (2001) argue that there needs to be more of a focus on the concept of the tourist performance because in places like New Zealand, tourists are more about ‘doing’ rather than simply ‘seeing’ or ‘gazing’ and, “thus about putting their bodies into tourism in a way that is not reflected in much of the analysis arising from a focus upon the tourist gaze” (p. 199). This criticism highlights an important change in the tourism industry. This is the search for authentic experiences and the search for experiences that invigorates all the senses. Thrift (1999) suggests that tourists want ‘contact’ with their surroundings. This contact goes beyond the visual realms as suggested by Urry. As Franklin and Crang (2001) point out that tourists, “are seeking to be doing something in the places they visit rather than being endlessly spectatorially passive” (p. 13). Franklin and Chang go on to suggest that tourists have become bored by the gaze.

MacCannell (1989) states that, “touristic consciousness is motivated by its desire for authentic experiences, and the tourist may believe that he is moving in this direction, but often it is very difficult to know for sure if the experience is in fact authentic. It is always possible that what is taken to be entry into a back region is really entry into a front region that has been totally set up in advance for touristic visitation” (p. 101). Urry fails to notice the distinction between authentic experiences and inauthentic ones. MacCannell (2001) believes there is a second gaze, one that is in a way suspicious of the totally visual elements of the tourist gaze. The second gaze is where the tourist is aware that, “something is being concealed from it…the second gaze knows that seeing is not believing. Some things will remain hidden from it…The second gaze turns back onto the gazing subject an ethical responsibility for the construction of its own existence” (p. 36). MacCannell (2001) finds the concept of the tourist gaze as defined by Urry too narrow a concept and argues that it is, “a blueprint for the transformation of the global system of attractions into an enormous set of mirrors to serve the narcissistic needs of dull egos” (p. 26). Nicholson-Lord (2002) is in partial agreement although he also takes issue with the concept of the second gaze as well. He argues that, “tourism is a powerful cultural solvent; it takes customs and beliefs that are locally rooted and distinctive, puts them into the global blending machine and turns them into liquefied gunk to which a mass market has been primed to respond” (p. 24).

Although MacCannell is arguing for the need for a wider experience than Urry suggests, they have both been criticized by those who suggest that they focus too exclusively on the tourist experience and the subjectivity of the tourist. Little mention is given to the subjectivity of the host. In a world where affluent tourists are able to seek out experiences and gaze upon sights in worlds that are just becoming open to them, little mention is given to how this affects the host cultures. Bianchi (2001) states that, “in a world of hyper-mobile capital, instant communications and the mass movement of peoples, international tourism encapsulates the contradictory forces at play in today’s world. These are mobility and freedom for the wealthy few, and immobility and impoverishment for the disenfranchised many” (p. 16). This imbalance is completely ignored in the work of Urry. It would be fair to argue that this is because he places too much emphasis on the visual for the tourist and not enough on looking at the wider impact of tourism on the hosts. As we move into an age of more ethically aware tourism, this becomes more of an important concept. Of course, Urry would argue that there is no single gaze and that this movement to more ethical tourism is just simply a different gaze for a different type of tourist but the fact that he ignores the impact of tourism on the host cultures is evidence that his preoccupations are elsewhere.

The tourist gaze as a concept is a helpful one when studying tourism. It helps us to understand how tourism has evolved and changed over the past few decades. It also helps us to understand how we as tourists act as players within a larger system that has been created to match our expectations of what we want to see on when we go on holiday with the supposed reality of what is actually there. It helps us to understand all the visual sign-posts that are created to help match up these two worlds, the reality and what we expect to see. However, this concept does have some limitations. Although it tries to be all encapsulating, trying to explain all our visual experiences by saying that people from different classes seek different things and gaze on different things when they go on holiday, it is still too narrow. It fails to really encapsulate the entire essence of tourism which is the experiences that you have that can’t be explained away as simply visual. This essay has touched on the notion of performance and contact. This is what tourism is all about. It is about the experiences that you have that come from the smells and sounds and the activities you partake in in the place you are visiting. Of course the sights play a huge part in this but they are not the whole experience.

Another place that Urry’s concept falls flat is his failure to look at tourism from the point of view of the host culture. In this day and age where we are becoming more ethically aware in everything that we consume, including our tourism, this is quite a big failure of the concept. It’s preoccupation on the consumers and how they are being manipulated with no mention of how these consumers impact on the cultures that they visit. Urry’s concept is still useful but it is getting less and less relevant in today’s market.

Bibliography and References

Chin, C.B.N. 2008, Cruising in the Global Economy: Profits, Pleasure and Work at Sea, London: Ashgate.

Franklin, A. and Chang, M. 2001, The trouble with tourism and travel theory?, Tourist Studies, 1(1), 5-22.

Goss, J. 1993, Placing the Market and Marketing the Place: Tourist Advertising of the Hawaiian Islands, 1972-1992, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 11, 663-688.

MacCannell, D. 1992, Empty Meeting Grounds: The Tourist Papers, London: Routledge.

McGuigan, J. 2004, Rethinking Cultural Policy, London: McGraw-Hill International

Perkins, H.C. and Thorns, D.C. 2001, Gazing or Performing?: Reflections on Urry’s Tourist Gaze in the Context of Contemporary Experience in the Antipodes, International Sociology, 16(2), 185-204.

Thrift, N. (1999) ‘Still Life in Present Time:The Object of Nature’, conference paper presented to Sociality/Materialism – The Status of the Object in Social Science, Brunel University, UK 9–11 September 1999.

Turner et al. 2005, The Tourist Gaze: Towards Contextualised Virtual Environments, Kluwer.

Urry, J. 1990, The Tourist Gaze, London: Sage.

Urry, J. 1992, The Tourist Gaze “Revisited”, American Behavioral Scientist, 36, 172-186.

Himachal Pradesh is one of Indias best tourist attraction regions, with its green valleys, snow covered Himalayan ranges and unique beauty, it is indeed a comfortable place for tourists. The region has a rich cultural heritage that attracts thousands of tourists each year.

The outer fringe of Himachal is formed by the Shiwalik hills, which are characterized by shallow valleys and dense scrub forests. The mid ranges have the majestic Himalayan cedar and the spruces followed by alpine meadows that intersperse themselves with the snow clad peaks of the Greater Himalaya.(tourism policy 2005)

The variances in climate and forest cover in Himachal make it attractive in different seasons of the year. The region also has a varied topography with beautiful flora and fauna. According to tourism policy 2005, Himachal has 32 sanctuaries, that is; Simbalwara (Sirmour), Churdhar, Chail (Solan), Maharana Pratap Sagar (Kangra) Manali (Kullu), Kanwar (Kullu), Kalatop Khajjiar (Chamba) and Daranghati (Shimla)., 2 national parks, Pin Valley National Park, Spiti and the Great Himalayan National Park, Kullu; and 3 game reserves, Kufri (Shimla), Manali (Kullu) and Gopalpur (Kangra).

There has been an increasing number of tourist visits to Himachal since the 90s to date. Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts have emerged as the most common destinations. Table 1. Below shows the increasing rate of tourist visits in the region. Visitors come from different nations all over the world, some of which are; United Kingdom, United States of America, France, Germany, Canada, and Malaysia. There are also domestic visitors that have been recorded and the ratios predict that there are more domestic visitors as compared to foreign visitors.

The trend of tourists’ visits follows the climate seasons of Himachal, the seasons in Himachal are not different from those of the whole India, India has quarterly climatic seasons, occurring every three months in a year. The first quarter is snowing and stormy, the second quarter is dusty because of the sun, it is a dry season, the third is the rainy season and the fourth is just fine weather. The tourist season normally begins in the snowfall and the numbers escalate in the summer.

More Data on Tourists Visits to Himachal

Number of domestic tourists between 2003 and 2004 was 5 million [HT May 2004]

Number of foreign tourists between 2003 and 2004 was 15,000

Total Number of tourists in 2007 was 720,000 [CNEI Jan 2007]

Increase of foreign tourist inflow from 2005 to 2006 was 20%

Target for foreign tourist inflow from 2006 to 2007 was 18%

Table3: Tourist Visitation to Himachal
YEAR(Monthly visitors)
DOMESTIC
FOREIGN

2001

521,866

8,171

2003

673,914

8,501

Source: Hindu times 16th May 2004

In 2003 the average population in Kulu Valley found in Himachal during summer was 50,000; the number of foreign visitor to the Kulu valley is 35,000 annually. The number of visitors to Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh during the peak season can go up to 10,000 daily.

Government’s Involvement in Tourism

In 2005 the government came up with a policy to improve tourism in Himachal and other areas and below are the objectives of the policy;

(1) To establish Himachal Pradesh as a leading tourist destination in the country and abroad;

(2) To make tourism a prime engine for economic development and prosperity of the State and as a major means for providing employment;

(3) To encourage a strong and sustainable private sector participation in creation of tourism infrastructure especially through public private partnerships;

(4) To promote sustainable tourism, which is not only environmentally compatible but also leads to economic betterment of the rural people;

(5) To attract quality tourists and to increase their stay in the State;

(6)To safeguard the State’s natural and manmade heritage;

(7) To encourage civil societies & non-governmental organizations for promotion & the conducting of tourism related activities;

(8) To position Himachal Pradesh as a one stop destination for adventure tourism;

The Tourism Department proposes to work actively with the Wild life Wing of the Forest Department to further develop and improve wild life parks/zoos, bird watching towers and other public utility services for the facility of the tourists. The government plans to set up a reasonable fee for the maintenance of the parks.

The state government together with the central government is also planning to make some efforts in developing the unexplored destinations to improve the sanitation, the accommodation, the parking, the roads, toilets, beautification and land scaping of areas that are of interest to the tourists. According to the government efforts will be made to keep these areas clean. And in the area of construction there is a plan to limit construction so as to control the population and hence reduce congestion in these new areas, the construction that is to be accepted is supposed to preserve the architecture and ecology of the state.

The government is concerned with preserving the cultural uniqueness of tourist areas so as to maintain the tourist visitations.

By focusing on quality tourists the State Government also aims at promoting sustainable tourism and encouraging the private sector to develop tourism related infrastructure in the State – without disturbing the existing ecology and environment.(India tourism Policy 2005)

To promote tourism in the countryside and to lesser-known areas, appropriate infrastructure will be developed within available resources. Himachal was earlier known only for the summer season. Efforts are being made to break the seasonality factor and tourism products have been diversified to attract the tourists in other seasons too.

Involvement of Other Local and National Authorities in Hospitality

According to the tourism policy, the private sector will continue to be encouraged to set up guest houses for which subsidy will be provided from the State budget. Tented accommodation will be encouraged with local participation so that maximum benefits accrue to the local economy.

The government has also set up tourism councils under the Tourism Act 2000 in the tourist attraction areas so that some fee is charged from the trekkers and tourists the proceeds of which will go to the locals for the maintenance and upkeep of the tourism related infrastructure and for regulating tourism on sustainable basis.

To Improve on Transport

The Manali Leh route which has already become a favorite for both domestic as well as international tourists will be further improved in coordination with the Government of J & K and efforts would be made to link it to the Buddhist Circuits of Shimla – Kinnaur- Spiti – Udaipur -Pangi and Palampur -Dharamshala – Dalhousie.

Economic Implication of Tourism in India and Himachal in Particular

Tourism is a key sector in India’s economy. It is presently India’s third largest foreign exchange earner after garments, and gems and jewellery. The best way in which the tourism industry is helping in income generation is through generating employment opportunities to the locals, hence improving their life styles. Many women and youths have gotten jobs in hotels, travel agencies, airline services, making art pieces and other cultural activities. Tourism also offers potential for utilizing natural resources like landscapes, rivers, beaches, mountains and others for the economic benefit of the population. The tourism industry employs more than 3% of the total Indian labor force while about 23 million persons derive their livelihood from tourism indirectly. So many new jobs are being created as the sector grows and because of this it is clear that tourism has become a very important sector in the Indian economy.

The economic contribution of tourism income to state revenue is around 5 billion Rs annually. (Hindu times 12th May 2004) which is 8%, the tourism Policy of 2005 proposes to increase it to 15% by the year 2020 and the contribution of tourism to Himachal Pradesh’s state domestic product is 2%.

The Hospitality State of Himachal;

By 2003 Himachal had 53 hotels, having 963 rooms and 2,052 beds; there were 60 restaurants and cafes, 25 luxury coaches, 1 Tata Sumo. These are all HPTDC (Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation) tourist facilities. News has it that some of these facilities have been privatized and others are also up for the same. Himachal Pradesh has 1,512 hotels that have been registered by the tourism department and these have a bed capacity of 32,302. In Manali there are 14,000 registered hotel beds.

More Data on Hotels
Hotels in Shimla

Shimla being the capital city of Himachal Pradesh is always frequented by visitors either on official duty or for holidaying. Shimla boasts of a few heritage hotels in addition to luxury and comfort hotels.

Hotel Woodville Palace is a premier heritage hotel has 31 rooms, Hotel Springfields is spread over 4 acres of land but only has 11 rooms. Guests checking into this heritage hotel experience a wonderful blend of old world charm and modern facilities; it is a hotel for high class tourists.

Another hotel is the Cecil belonging to the Oberoi group, is a deluxe luxury hotel having 79 aesthetically designed elegant rooms.

The other hotels in Shimla include Hotel Span Resort, Hotel Snowcrest Manor, Hotel Ashok, Hotel Banon Reosrt, Ram Regency Honeymoon Inn, Hotel Devlok, and Manali Inn. The Regent Center Point and Apple Valley Resort.

Five Star Hotels in Shimla

There are three major five star hotels in Shimla. Those are Radisson Shimla, Hotel Windflower Hall and Shilon Resort. These 5 star hotels offer excellent accommodation facilities and are highly preferred by visitors.

Four Star Hotels in Shimla

There are three major four star hotels in Shimla. Those are Hotel Asia The Dawn, Hotel Quality Inn Himdev and Hotel Pineview. These hotels are well known for the facilities offered by them and are highly favored by visitors too.

Three Star Hotels in Shimla

The three star hotels in Shimla are well known for providing visitors with good facilities at reasonable prices. The three star hotels in Shimla are Hotel Ashiana Regency, East Bourne Resort, Baljees Regency, Hotel Combermere, Fair Mount Shimla and, Himani’s Premium Shimla.

Heritage Hotels in Shimla

The heritage hotels in Shimla are normally buildings with historical importance or are old buildings. The leading heritage hotels in Shimla are Chapslee Palace, Hotel Oberoi Shimla, Clarke’s Hotel, Woodville Palace Resorts and Hotel Springfields.

Luxury Hotels in Shimla

There is a wide range of luxury hotels in Shimla. Those are The Cecil (Oberoi Group),Shimla, Radisson Jass Hotel , Shimla, Wildflower (Oberoi Group), Mashobra, Hotel Willow Banks, ( The Mall ) Shimla, Woodville Palace, Shimla, Hotel Combermere, Shimla and The Destination, Kalka-Shimla Highway, near Kandaghat.

Deluxe Hotels in Shimla

There are a lot of deluxe hotels in Shimla. Those are Woodpark hotel, (near Kufri), Shimla, Hotel Silverine, Shimla, Ashiana Regency, Shimla, Brightland Hotel, Shimla, Hotel Baljees Regency, Shimla, Hotel Himdev, Shimla, Hotel Surya, Shimla, Hotel Leela Regency, Shimla and, Honeymoon Inn, Shimla.

Standard Hotels in Shimla

There are eight major standard hotels in Shimla. Those are Hotel Victory, Shimla, Hotel Shingar, Shimla, Hotel De Park, Shimla, Sukh Sagar Resort, Shimla, Hotel Himland West, Shimla, Hotel Blossom, Shimla, WILDSIDE- Eco Retreat & Campsite, Shimla and Cedar Heights Resort, Shimla.

Budget Hotels in Shimla

The budget hotels in Shimla are for those who want good facilities at lesser costs. There are five major budget hotels in Shimla. Those are Galleu Resort, Shimla, Hotel Mayur, Shimla, Park Woods Resort, Shimla, Hotel Dreamland, Shimla, and Hotel Taj Palace, Shimla. This is where most of the domestic visitors with a relatively low but not so low standard of life spend their nights when they visit Himachal.

Banjara Camps and Retreats in Shimla

There are 5 major banjara camps and retreats in the vicinity of Shimla. Those are Sangla Valley, Himachal, Mori Retreat, Shimla, Thanedar Retreat, Shimla, Sarahan Retreat and Shoja Retreat, Shimla.

Resorts in Shimla

There are a couple of resorts in Shimla that are well known for the superb facilities offered by them. The major resorts in Shimla are Snow King Retreat, Whistling Pine Resorts and The Chalets Naldehra.

Hotels in Kullu Manali

Kullu Manali is among the most visited hill stations not only in Himachal Pradesh but also in India. A few of the notable hotels in Kullu Manali include Hotel Span Resort on the River Beas banks, Hotel Snowcrest Manor, Hotel Banon Resort, Ram Regency Honeymoon Inn, Sagar Resorts, and Manali Inn.

The other noteworthy hotels in this north Indian hilly state are Hotel Grand View in Dalhousie, Hotel Hill Top in Chamba, Hotel Aupam Resort in Dharmsala, Hotel Taragarh Palace in Taragarh, and the Judge’s Court in Kangra.

About Transport in Himachal

Because of shortage of vehicles in Himachal, there are many other vehicles from out of Manali that are used for tourist activities, the number of vehicles entering Manali on a daily basis are over 1,000 during the peak season. The number of vehicles heading to Rohtang Pass during the peak season can go over 2,000 vehicles daily.

During the peak season, many vehicles come to these tourist areas causing a lot of traffic jam and therefore discomfort to the tourists, the traffic jam can go on for about two hours or so, which is time consuming on the side of the site seers. This is also attributed to the size and number of roads which seems less as compared to the number of visitors trafficking Himachal Pradesh for tourism. Also because of development purposes the towns are under construction, for example in Shimla, the roads have had several disturbances because of the electricity boards that have been digging from time to time and not only them but also the telecommunications people as well as the road constructors.

Traffic is not only experienced by the vehicle owners but also the increasing number of pedestrians is becoming a problem in this tourist area, the malls and shopping are no longer as attractive because of the masses that crowd the places, dropping all sorts of waste papers, waste bottles making the place so hard to maintain, the government has been trying to find ways of improving the situation but there is still a lot of work to be done in order to ensure that the environment is taken care of. Because of the different developments the forest areas of Shimla have not survived the saw and many trees have been lost in the process. The rise in population has led to increased air pollution in the area; the mountainous areas are no longer as clean and attractive as they used to be. The pollution levels goes to the peak during the winter season because of the heating machines which use coal and others wood, releasing a lot of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere, and it reduces in the rainy season. The pollution is also increasing because of the vehicles that use fuel for their running, the exhaust into the atmosphere is increasing day by day and it is worse during the peak tourist seasons, burning garbage is another factor leading to increased pollution.

Below is a SWOT analysis that has been carried out on Himachal Tourism

SWOT refers to Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

According to the tourism policy of 2005 the STRENGTHS are:

Himachal is one of the rare places in the world offering five distinct seasons, thus having potential to attract tourist inflow round the year;

It is both politically and socially stable.

India is Recognized as a peaceful and hospitable State;

The climate is healthy.

It is a pollution free environment;

Offers a rare conglomerate of eco-tourism, pilgrimage, adventure, culture, heritage, leisure, wilderness etc.;

Fairly good infrastructure;

High literacy;

Rich history and heritage that has something to offer to all.

Its Buddhist monasteries, which are of thousand years of old, ancient temples, churches and cemeteries;

Special package of incentives for setting up of tourism units;

Strong political will to promote tourism;

WEAKNESSES:

Negligible air and rail link in the State;

Inadequate flow of foreign tourists;

Non-disbursal of tourists round the year, putting severe strains on civic infrastructure during the peak season;

Lack of trained tourist guides at important tourist places and historical tourist sites;

Saturation at the established tourists destinations;

No new major tourists destination has come up recently;

Lack of adequate parking places at important tourist places;

Poor marketing of the State abroad and inadequate marketing within the country;

Very little budget;

Problem of land acquisition;

Problem of conversion of forest land.

OPPORTUNITIES:

Strong potential for activity based tourism such as white water rafting, Para-gliding, trekking, mountaineering, water sports, mountain biking, Car Rallies etc.;

A strong base for heritage tourism to attract persons from all walks of society and religious beliefs;

To develop an ideal destination for nature lovers by promoting eco-tourism;

Create synergy between heritage and pilgrimage tourism;

Development of wetlands of the State to attract nature lovers especially bird watchers;

Promote the State as an open university and learning centre in mythology, anthropology and ornithology etc.;

Position it as an ideal destination for the film industry;

Himachal has something to offer to persons of all ages, groups, beliefs and interests. There is unlimited scope for development of varied tourist packages;

Himachal can become one of the leading adventure destinations in the world;

Promote wilderness tourism for lovers and seekers of nature, peace and quiet.

Create new destinations in yet unexplored but beautiful areas. This would also ease the burden on established tourist destinations.

THREATS:

Tremendous strain leading to collapse, at times, of civic amenities at leading tourist destinations during the season;

Haphazard growth & construction threatening the environment, especially at the leading tourist destinations;

An alarming growth of concrete structures creating a disharmony with the local environment;

Unscrupulous commercialization of tourism could erode the social and cultural values;

Aggressive competition amongst the leading tourists States and a strong promotion of tourism by other States;

Lack of coordinated strategy by the different Government Departments;

A large increase in volume and limited increase in value;

Poor garbage/ waste disposal posing threat to the environment.

Discussion and Analysis of Data
Quantitative Analysis

According to the data above, the number of tourists coming to India and to Himachal Pradesh in particular increases every year, on average the number increases by 10,000 tourists annually, this has an implication that the income generation of the nation through ecotourism in Himachal Pradesh is also increasing annually. This large increase would therefore call for an increase in the number of hotels and transport facilities in the tourist areas. The 53 hotels and 60 restaurants in 2003 cannot be counted sufficient to hold the increasing number of tourists, the number of hotels and restaurants are also supposed to be increasing at the same rate as the number of tourists.

Looking at the government plans in the data above, there is hope that more hotels, restaurants and transport facilities will be put in place but there is also a challenge of space and environmental conservation which have to be considered while thinking of increasing the number of hotels and other facilities.

In reality it is hardly impossible to consider increasing facilities depending on the number of tourists because according to the data above tourists will continue increasing and therefore if buildings are to increase depending on tourist numbers then there will come a time when the government will have to encroach on the natural resources space to meet accommodation needs, if this ever happens that means the whole sense of tourist attraction won’t have meaning because there will be very little left in terms of scenery to attract tourists.

The SWOT analysis above shows that the government is so aware of the potential that is within the tourist attraction areas and therefore knowing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats it is easy to know where to invest much. But the challenge comes in on the national budget, despite the fact that the above data tells us that tourism industry contributes 8% to the state revenue, the government analysis shows that the industry has a limited budget, and that is why development is becoming so hard. This shows some contradiction, the contribution of the tourism industry to the national revenue is enough to develop the tourism industry and therefore there should not be a shortage in terms of budget since the industry can run on its own.

According to the data, there are more domestic tourists visiting Himachal as compared to foreign tourists, any nation would prefer to have more foreign than domestic tourists, for the case of Himachal the reasons have been explained in the data that there is a shortage in the airline services and of course accommodation as well, government has realized this need and has come up with ways of increasing availability of air transport for the tourists which is good, all this has been stated in the policy above.

Qualitative Analysis

To start with the point of increasing the available airlines and air crafts in order to allow more tourists to visit Himachal, this is a bright idea on the part of the government, and the data depicts a gap by not clearly explaining how the government plans to do all this without degrading the environment of the area and therefore without disturbing the eco system, there is an obvious challenge here which the government and local authorities need to address and integrate in their planning.

According to the above data, the government is fully involved in developing ecotourism and data shows that the government is ready to work hand in hand with the local and national authorities in improving the hospitality sector, something which is really encouraging.

The SWOT analysis shows that one of the strengths of Himachal is that the environment is pollution free, as the number of tourists increase in Himachal this strength is turning into a weakness and a threat at the same time, pollution is increasing at a high rate as some part of the secondary data is showing us that the more the people, the more garbage, the more fuel use and therefore combustion activities are increasing which cause greenhouse gas emission in the environment, there is need for the government to think highly on this.

Some of the threats spelled out by the SWOT analysis can be controlled by the authorities for example the alarming growth of concrete structures leading to destruction of the environment, the authorities can think of an alternative to concrete structures and as for the threat of haphazard growth and construction also threatening the environment, there is need to restructure the tourist areas and come up with infrastructure standards to be followed by the local and national authorities who are dealing with hospitality.

According to the data on hotels in Himachal, the luxury hotels are very few in number, with the government’s aim of increasing quality tourists, tourists who know and appreciate the environment, tourists who come with the aim of not only enjoying nature but also getting educated through nature, there calls for increase of the number of luxurious hotels in the area because such would prefer to spend their time in a more comfortable place. In this case the local authorities have to work hand in hand with the government because such developments need a lot of land and funds.

Architecture now days have become very utility oriented due to constraints of the current times. Practicing and producing ‘functional architecture’ is not at all wrong but the word ‘function’ itself is very involuntary. Just like machines which are proficient to do and achieve tasks for which they are programmed for but those performed tasks are impassive. One cannot develop any sense of belonging to a space or architecture unless there is something more than function involved into it which provokes the human senses and is capable of fluctuating human emotions and feelings. This thesis is conscious attempts to create functional architecture while keeping in mind the human emotions and sensory intensification. The basic objective is to create spaces which are not categorized by its volume and magnitude rather they should be acknowledged by their spatial experience. These types of experiences are critical particularly for such kind of building program involving leisure of tourism and extremity of action sports. Incorporating human sensorial characteristic will not only augment the user experience but it will also increase the architectural character of spaces.

INTRODUCTION

http://2bawards.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/extreme-sports.jpg

Man is a social animal. This is a cliche but explains most of the social requirements and demands of human race. Socializing is not just about human interaction with each other but it is also about how a person interacts with and relates to his or her environment. For most of the people an environments starts to become suffocating if they happen to experience the same thing over and over again. Man needs change. It may not be a unvarying or permanent change but the human psychology demands change for some time at least.

This type of design project and building typology is most suitable to explore the impacts of architecture on human emotions and moods and then apply it on spaces and over all architecture. As a tourist resort is a kind of a place where people actually come to relax, rehabilitate their energy, enjoy and experience something ‘different’. On the other hand extreme games also involve a lot of human emotions like anger, anxiety, fear etc. So for application of the respective research, in my opinion, this building typology is one of the most suitable.

Man has managed to come up with many ways to cater to his needs of changing and environment. He called it ‘recreation’ and ‘leisure’.

There are two types of leisure:

Passive leisure (minimal physical involvement)
Active leisure ( optimal physical involvement)

Both type of leisure facilities will be a part of program.

The facility will incorporate the following:

Water sports

Extreme games

Beach resort

Others

1.1-Architecture and psychology:

In day to day life we experience different type of situation causing different types of mood swings in us. These experiences come as a surprise to us most of the time. When we get out of our routine and go to an exhilarating activity like some excursion or some stimulating sports we tend to pre determine our moods. We ‘try’ to be happy and feel happy along with many other positive emotions like thrill, excitement, positive anxiety etc. This can be translated into architecture by incorporating an over lapping field of neurology and studying impact of architecture on human beings.

In my understanding architecture and building can be perceived in two ways:

Interactive architecture. Interactive architecture is very much program dependant. The practical aspects of the buildings are fulfilled and user’s movement and functions are catered then it’s an interactive building. At the most five human senses are considered while designing.

Active architecture Every form, space, color, space quality has certain impact on human brain when it interacts with 5 senses.-this is where interactive architecture ends. So we can say every space , form, color has an action on a user . A person reacts to it and hence “EXPERIENCES THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE SPACE”.

1.2-Objectives and aims:

To enhance architectural experience through sensory fluctuations (Anxiety, Calmness etc) in user using spaces, space formation, colors, textures, heights and other architectural elements.

To translate the dynamics of extreme sports in the building form.

To provide a platform to people to enjoy and experience such activities for the first time in Pakistan.

1.3-Need Of the project:

Help in catering and improving the tourism infrastructure of the country.

Studies show that if such spaces and activities are not provided to the youngsters they can indulge themselves in negative activities.(explained further in the next heading)

Required in the urban fabric infrastructure of the second only city of Pakistan which is being master planned and this type of activity place has already been marked by the development authorities.

Why do people play extreme sports?

To get the answer to this question two qualified psychiatrists from CMH were interviewed namely D.Sana Naimat and Dr.Imtiaz Mubasshir.According to them people who are bored of life usually need a kick though everybody has a different genetic structure. They tend to have a reckless behavior if they require a change and they don’t get it. Endorphins (hormones which actually makes a person feel good about his own self) are released at a certain heart rate after a person gets a ‘kick’ according to his or her own genetic structure but usually the kick is in the form of an extreme behavior ,be it ecstasy, suicidal behavior or extreme sports.

People tend to deal stress in different patterns usually by changing their environment. Sometimes these patterns are adaptive and sometimes these are maladaptive.

So it can be concluded that extreme activities’ on the whole are a part of human nature and many human beings have the urge to do it in order to act ‘normal’ and stay ‘calm’ in daily life.

Clients brief:

For this project the client is The Ministry of Sports and Culture , Government of Pakistan along with a multinational company. At present ‘Red bull’ in collaboration with Yamaha and Caterpillar showed interest in the project and presented a feasibility report to ‘TIE’.

Project Supervision:

This project is to be executed in the 3rd phase development of Gwadar which will take place around year 2030. Currently the first phase is almost complete in which the road and other infrastructure of the city is laid out. In 2nd phase utility oriented facilities are to be planned and constructed and in 3rd phase recreation and large scale institutional projects are to be developed and constructed. The client is Ministry of Sports and Culture and it wishes to create a platform for action sports in Pakistan where main and major extreme sports can be played and experienced on one platform under one roof. The project would be under the supervision of GDA(Gwadar development authority).

The client wants to execute this project in Gwadar because multinational companies find the projects adequate for the city because of its thriving and hopeful future prospects.

USER:

The target user for this project is the youth and tourist of the country who enjoys scenic views, nature, and adventure, and likes to deal with challenging situations.

Social Objectives:

The intent of this project is not only to promote this new form of sports but also to promote and facilitate the tourism of the country. Gwadar has deep sea port and when it will be properly and fully functional it will eventually attract tourist from all over the world and this type of project fits and compliments the urban fabric of the city. It will also become a social spot for the city and the locality.

The site falls in the tourism zone (according to the master plan of Gwadar) of the city and this area will become a focal point of tourism and recreational attraction not only for the citizens of Gwadar but also for people coming from other areas and countries.

The main aim is to summon the youth under a roof to experience thrilling sporting activities in safe and monitored environment under proper supervision. By providing safe environment accidents can be avoided which happen because of the reckless behavior of youngsters seeking thrill on roads. Different level zones are provided for amateurs and professioals so that every adult and child can enjoy the facility according to his or her potential. The thrill seekers will not have travel to different places to enjoy the thrills of rock climbing on mountains or to the sea shores to enjoy water sports, people no more need to go to urban centers to enjoy the street sports like skate boarding and bmx stunts. This facility has it all under one emblem.

Other than generating tourism and sports activities it will also help in strengthening local economy. These sporting events bring all sorts of people together and hence it helps developing some cultural trends and it also helps in promoting a country’s image in this age where world is now a global village.

Site Location:

Site is location on the Shore of Gwadar Sea in the tourism development zone. Site is towards the west of Koh-e-Batil and on the south of Pishukan road which leads towards the pishukan town towards padi zar.

Feasibility:

In the current scenario the trend in the world and specifically in Pakistan is to develop lavish real estates. A project like this are part of overall development and compliments the current trends of real estate development. In the pursuit of profitable development, leisure and entertainment has to be catered for. There is a high need of development of places for healthy communal activities for the public, specifically the youth of Pakistan to bring out their full potential.

Scope of work:

Developing a master plan.

Experimenting with different type of spaces in order to facilitate different emotional and sensory experiences of a person.

Other than the feasibility of the project according to the social context, this project is also a live project and is a part of the master plan of Gwadar developed under the supervision of GDA (Gwadar development authority) .

Gawadr , A broader perspective

Gawadar is said to be the next mega polis of Asia .Its warm waters and other potentials are reason for its hardcore progress. Gwadar is spread over an area of aprox.1.52 million hectares or 15,216 square kilometers.

Gwadar is surrounded on the north by Kech and Awaran districts, on the east by Awaran and Lasbela districts, on the south by the Arabian Sea, and on the west by Iran. Geographical position of Gwadar has major standing in the global trade routes. Sea routes leading to Gulf estates and eastern hemisphere of the world passes along Gwadar.

Gwadar has all the distinct elements required for this project. It has a very massive water front which is a fatal requirement of this project. It also has scenic views all around it which can be very nicely incorporated into a tourist resort.

8.3-Land Use, Master Plan Phase-I GDA

Description Land Allocation

Land for Residential Projects 90,500 Acres(Extendable)

Land for Commercial Projects 2100 Acres (Extendable)

Land for Recreational Projects 13,500 Acres(Extendable)

Land for Industrial, desalination plants, Airport, Railway Linkages, and Urban facilities.45,000Acres(Extendable)

*Source: GDA

As it can be seen in the master plan that the area selected for the project is near to the area allocated for tourism development. It is an advantage which will be fruitful for the facility.

In their report about Gadar SMEDA (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority) states:

“District Gwadar as a coastal area has rich marine life and present viable opportunity for ecotourism. The district has untouched clear beaches which can be an attractive place for tourism. Kund Malir, Daraan, Asthola Island, beaches of Jewani, Guns and Ormara are some of the most beautiful tourist beaches.

Asthola Island is located at a distance of 150 kilometer from Gwadar tehsil. It is an

internationally recognized wetland and has numerous species of aquatic creatures.

Hingol National Park is the largest natural forest of Asia, coastal highway run for 55 kilometers in the scenic mountains of this natural forest. Hingol National Park is also one beautiful tourist sight Wild life creatures like tigers, Ibex, goats and monkeys are found in this sight.

At present, 6 hotels and resorts are operating in Gwadar, a major break through in hotel and tourism industry is the construction of a 5 start Zaver Pearl Continental Hotel at Koh-e- Batill, opposite to Singhar Housing Scheme in Gwadar.

Potential exists for development of tourist resort and motels, seafood restaurants, country parks and beach sports recreation facilities. Ecotourism sector can be developed to its potential in Gwadar district as the number of tourist from Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore has remarkably increased due to the construction of coastal highway.

There exist a very good opportunity for setting up country parks and other recreational facilities at Gwadar, there is great gap of amusement facilities in Gwadar, and the population requires recreational facilities, easy to mobilize large number of visitors to the facility and spending capability of people of the area.”

8.4-Road Network:

The creation of the Gwadar deep-sea port is now one part of a larger growth plan which includes construction of a system of road and rail network linking Gwadar with the rest of Pakistan, like the 650 km Coastal Highway to Karachi and the Gwadar-Turbat road (188 km). This system of roads links with China via the Indus Highway.

8.5-Development Projects Oman

Oman has proposed $100 million support for the growth of community and infrastructure amenities in Balochistan. From that $100 million, Oman has given $7 million for the runway at Gwadar Airport, building of jetties, constructionof Gwadar Hospital, stipulation of 100 engines to fishermen and for building a power house. Oman is also sponsoring infrastructure of Gwadar-Hoshab Road.

8.6-Air Port:

Gwadar has a huge airport for commercial airlines. There is a need for the extension of the airport and improvement of its landing strip to accommodate the landing of larger commercial aircrafts.

8.8-Strategic Importance of Gwadar:

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According to Tourism Philippines, “Boracay is famous for its long white sandy beaches, and is also a popular outlet for water sports activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing etc. Other than the sandy beaches, Boracay is well known for the nightlife and party scene. There are numerous bars and clubs along the whole stretch of beach, mostly located at station 2 of Boracay. Spas are also readily at most places; you can even find freelance masseurs “patrolling” the beaches!” (Tourism Philippines, 2008, Retrieved From: http://tourism-philippines.com/boracay-travel-guide/)

According to corporate.mozcom.com, “The best part of the island is its 4 km. White Beach, also called long beach by the locals. It is situated at the west coast between the villages of Angol and Balabag, and some experienced travellers claim it to be the finest beach of all Asia. The water is shallow here and its sand brighter and finer than most beaches in the archipelago. There are about 350 beach resorts with 2000 rooms to suit virtually everyone’s taste. There is accommodation of all types and price categories. Restaurants range form the native fastfood stalls to establishments that would satisfy even a gourmet. You can find beer joints as well as discos with amazing light and sound equipment.” (corporate.mozcom.com, n.d, Retrieved From: http://corporate.mozcom.com/dot/r6/borfacts.html)

Nestor P. Burgos Jr. of the Philippine Daily Inquirer states that, “DISCERNING travelers and tourists prefer destinations off the beaten track. But many of them still end up in the world-famous beach of Boracay Island in Aklan.” This is because of its white beach and fine white sand and crystal clear waters, according to Edwin Trompeta, regional director for Western Visayas of the Department of Tourism. “The beach and waters combined with the island’s nightlife make Boracay irresistible,” he says.

Despite controversies on land ownership and unregulated development, Boracay has drawn more tourists every year because of its famous white beach, consistently included in the lists of the best beaches in the world.

Furthermore, the global economic slump has failed to dampen tourist arrivals with new foreign markets and local tourists making up for the slack in visitors from countries hit hard by the world recession.

As a matter of fact, tourist arrivals on the island have been on the upswing for a decade. They are up from 554,181 tourists in 2006, 596,707 in 2007, 634,263 in 2008 and 649,559 last year. For the first five months of this year, tourist arrivals have grown by 12 percent, according to data from the tourism office of Malay town in Aklan.

Boracay’s peak season usually begins in October and lasts until May the following year

From January to May 2010, tourist arrivals reached 378,694, higher than the 337,664 tourists who visited the island in the same period last year and the 320,994 tourists who came in 2008.

The highest number was recorded in May with tourist arrivals reaching 101,349, higher than the 92,813 tourists in the same month in 2009 and 83,731 in 2008.

More than 600,000 local and foreign tourists visited the white sand beaches and various parts of Boracay during the period, more than 40 percent higher than the 2009 figure of around 470,000.

DOT 6 said they have recorded more than 230,000 foreign tourists in the island as of early October.

This is good news amid the various travel advisories issued by several countries against visiting in the Philippines, the DOT 6 said.

The United States, Australia and United Kingdom had earlier issued advisories as precautions in traveling to the country in the wake of reported terror threats.

The tourism of Boracay is continuing to grow in fact, The News Today states that, “Boracay’s revenue, mainly due to tourism, has reached P 12.17 billion as of the third quarter, higher compared to last year’s figures.

Income from tourism in Boracay from January to May reached P6,961,683.28.” (Burgos, 2010, Retrieved From: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20100814-286677/Boracay-tourism-still-up-amid-woes)

Tourist Attractions and Activities in Boracay

According to travelnet.com, Boracay is famous for the following:

Beaches / White Beach

Boracay boasts of a sugary white sand beach and azure blue waters. The best part of the island is the four-kilometer White Beach known to be the “finest beach in the world.” The surrounding water is shallow and the sand is finer and brighter than most beaches in the archipelago. White Beach is so, soooo fine, it feels like treading on miles of baby powder!

Aquasports

The island paradise of Boracay is a perfect place for watersports. Here, you can partake in a smorgasbord of exhilirating aqua action – from swimming and snorkeling to scuba diving, windsurfing, sailboating, kayaking, boardsailing, and boating.

Nature Tripping / Eco-Adventure

World-renowned Boracay is an adventure island ideal for island hopping, hiking, trekking, caving, mountain climbing, biking, and horseback riding. Trekking and mountain biking can bring even the intrepid to the island’s quaint interior villages and to the edges’ scenic rocky cliffs, discovering along the way many hidden coves with isolated beaches far from the tourist crowd.

Boardsailing at Bulabog Beach

On the eastern side of Boracay Island is Bulabog Beach. It is a boardsailor’s mecca that draws enthusiasts from all over the world, especially during the peak season from November to March. In January, it is the site of an International Funboard Cup.

Paraw Regatta

Sailboating and kayaking are popular sporting activities, with Boracay playing host to the annual Paraw Regatta, an international sailboat race that makes use of the native outrigger.

Diving

Dive sites surround the island and are learning venues to both novice and professional divers, guided by competent instructors of the many dive shops that operate in the area. For trueblue scuba diving enthusiasts, Yapak in Boracay is a great deep dive.

Recreational Sports

Laid-back Boracay is the perfect venue for golf, tennis, bowling, even beach volleyball. Top-of-class amenities for these activities are available in the island. For golf bugs, Fairways and Bluewater Resort Golf and Countryclub has an 18-hole championship course.

Partyhopping

The code in Boracay is strictly informal. Walking barefoot than shod is the rule rather than the exception. Swinging discos have the beach for a floor, giving dance a new twist. From dusk to dawn, the island turns into one big party place where everyone is welcome to join in.

Mambo Number 5

For the adventure-driven, “Mambo Number 5” is a little bit of boating and wind surfing, a little bit of scuba diving, a little bit of trekking, a little bit of mountain biking, and a little bit of golf.

Shopping

Bargain shopping is a joy of a diversion while in Boracay. Souvenir pieces provide endless possibilities, from trinkets and native accessories made of shells and semi-precious stones to exotic or contemporary beach wear and fashion artworks.

Dining

The taste of the 6th Region, to which Boracay belongs, is quite simple. Charbroiled chicken is common fare. Another favorite dish is raw fish marinated in spicy vinegar. Dining is no problem in Boracay, with most resorts having their own restaurants that serve both Filipino and international cuisines. Small snack bars line the island.

Relaxation

Diversions are not a problem in Boracay, with leisure activities calendared throughout the year and amenities offered by some 350 tourist establishments. The island is ideal for beachbumming, relaxing, and simply lazing around. At the end of the day, unwind with a relaxing massage. The island never runs out skilled masseurs offering massage services by the beach. For a more luxurious treat, visit the new Mandala Spa.

Boracay Boardsailing

The picture-perfect tropical island of Boracay offers flat-water speed sailing, wave jumping, and longboard cruising. White Beach, shielded from the amihan, or northeast monsoon, is for beginners. Bulabog Beach, on the other side of the island, has ideal conditions for speed, slalom, and high-wind shortboard sailing. It is also the site of the annual Boracay International Funboard Cup. Tabon Strait has superb high-performance sailing, but there is a real risk of being swept away, so this site is for skilled sailors only.

Tibiao Whitewater River

Rising near the peak of Mt. Madja-as, the Tibiao River descends almost 2000m on its short but tumultuous journey to the sea. The lower section of the river, known as the “Chicken Run”, is grade 3; the more difficult upper section reaches grade 4. The Tibiao has all the classic features of a tropical whitewater river, with rich vegetation hemming the banks, views of rice terraces, spectacular falls and clear water. The river is close to Boracay and easily accessible.

Natural Formations
Beaches / White Beach

Boracay boasts of a sugary white sand beach and azure blue waters. The best part of the island is the four-kilometer White Beach known to be the “finest beach in the world.” The surrounding water is shallow and the sand is finer and brighter than most beaches in the archipelago. White Beach is so, soooo fine, it feels like treading on miles of baby powder!

Festivals
Ati-Atihan (second weekend of January)

January is the time to hang loose in Kalibo, the “Land of the Atis” and the gateway to Boracay. For all of three days, it celebrates the Ati-Atihan Festival – where frenzied streetdancing is performed by costumed and black-sooted “tribes” as they wend through the main streets from dawn until the witching hours. Ati-Atihan commemorates the 13th-century land deal between ten migrating Bornean chieftains and the aboriginal Ati King Marikudo. It also honors the town patron, the infant Santo Nino. To the accompaniment of hundreds of lyres and drums, merrymakers throw all inhibitions to the wind as they join the tribes in a mad jig punctuated by rhythmic shouts of: “Hala bira! Puera pasma! Hala bira! Viva Santo Nino!” (Loosely translated: “Let go! Don’t get sick! Let go! Hail the Holy Child!”)

Paraw Regatta

Yearly, Boracay Island plays host to the Paraw Regatta, an international sailboat race that makes use of the native outrigger.

International Funboard Cup

A music and dance festivity depicting the history, folklore, and traditions of the Lobocanons. Bolibong Kingking is a term applied to the drums and gongs and their rhythm used to accompany the supplication dance ritual in front of the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the 2nd Patron of Loboc.

Pana-ad sa Loboc (Holy Thursday & Good Friday)

Bulabog Beach, situated on the eastern side of Boracay Island, is a boardsailor’s mecca that draws enthusiasts from all over the world. Every January, it is the site of an International Funboard Cup.

Marketing Boracay

A study was undertaken for the International Finance Corp. (IFC) by a team of Filipino and German consultantsA to improve and develop Boracay to make it a world-class tourist destination. According to this study, the plan is achievable and through this, the island of Boracay can compete with other world-renowned beaches like those in Phuket, Thailand and Bali, Indonesia.

“The plan is to redesign the marketing strategy to make the island more visible and accessible to tourists from around the world,” declared IFC Country Manager Vipul Bhagat. Boracay is presented as a haven of good investment opportunities, paying attention to strategic tourism marketing and promotion so as to invite and persuade more tourists into visiting the island.

The study emphasizes the major changes which are intended to be done and implemented to develop, sustain and make Boracay a major destination for big-ticket tourism. These changes include the “transfer of solid waste management facility from Boracay to Caticlan; the construction of low-cost mainland housing to ease migration and congestion in Boracay; improved transport facility between Boracay and Caticlan; development of Caticlan’s airport and marina; a Caticlan-based full service hospital to respond to emergencies, and; an agro-industrial center in Caticlan with ice and cold storage facilities and a public market.” Issues like migration, zoning, lack of health facilities and medical personnel, visual and noise pollution, solid waste and water management, energy supply and intra- and inter-island transport are also addressed. In addition, the building of educational facilities offering tourism-related services, environmental management and eco-tourism in Caticlan was also recommended to raise the awareness of the locals to continue preserving, sustaining and developing the island that is considered as one of the Philippines’ most treasured and precious natural resources. .A

To start with the marketing and strategic management development, the IFC conducted a web marketing seminar for local officials and businessmen to improve and hone their skills and utilize the use the Internet to market Boracay and improve and build-up its image. A separate forum for potential investors was also held in Manila.

Today tourism is one of the largest and most dynamic sectors, of the economy. It is growing at a fast pace, leading to infrastructure development, considerable, volume of foreign currency inflows, and good job opportunities. So it affects various sectors of the economy, contributing to the social and economic development of the country

as a whole. According to recent statistics, tourism provides about 10 per cent of the world’s income and employs almost one tenth of the world’s workforce. All considered, tourism’s actual and potential economic impact is astounding.

The hospitality industry came into existence in order to accommodate tourists.

When guests stay in a hotel and use the various services and facilities provided by the hotel, they seldom think about the complexity of hotel operations. The smallest of their demands, like for a cup of tea, requires coordination among a series of people. The hotel industry is a people-oriented industry. It is the effectiveness, efficiency, and courteous behaviour of the hotel employees that make a lasting impression on the guest’s total experience.

The front office department of a hotel is the hub of guest activities. This department looks after the guests’ needs-right from the booking of rooms to receiving and registering guests, to assigning rooms, to handling guests’ mails and messages, to presenting bills and settling guests’ accounts at the time of check-out. It is important for the front office staff to provide excellent and flawless services to guests, as it goes a long way in creating an indelible image of the hotel.

FRONT OFFICE GM AT WORK AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

Most general managers depend on the performance of an outstanding front office to help them meet their guest service and profitability goals. The front office and its manager(s) are responsible for, a variety of important hotel functions.

Because the rooms sold by a hotel are extremely perishable (an unsold room on a certain day is an eternal and unchangeable circumstance), it is very important that hotels do the best job possible in matching guest room availability with guest room demand. Also, since it is not possible to change the number of rooms available to sell up or down on a daily basis due to the constructed fixed number of rooms, an important responsibility of the front office is the sale of rooms at a rate that management feels will maximize revenue per available room. A well-managed and talented front office will do this well.

The making of guest reservations is often the first thing that comes to mind when considering the major functions of a front office, and this is indeed an important and often complex aspect of the front office`s role. In addition to reservations, however, it falls upon the front office to actually assign arriving guests to specific guest rooms and respond to their special needs during their stay. These needs can include anything from transportation and information to medical assistance. In all of these situations and more, the unwavering role of the front office is to make the guest’s stay as comfortable and as welcoming as possible.

An essential aspect of the front office is its responsibility for collecting the revenue charged to guests for their rooms, restaurant meals, telephone calls, and a host of other hotel services. This means that the front office manager, working with the G.M. and controller, must devise and administer revenue management systems that ensure guests are properly charged for the services they use and that the hotel fully collects all monies it has earned.

When forecasting room demand, accommodating guests, and collecting monies for services rendered, the front office generates a large quantity of data, much of which are critical for management decision making. It is the role of the front office to collect, sort, and present these data in a way that assists in management decision making. As a G.M. my daily tasks can be made much easier by the support of an effective front office.

OVERVIEW OF THE FRONT OFFICE

The front office sometimes referred to as the front desk, the front office usually controls much more than the activities occurring at the front desk. In a small, limited service hotel, the front office may consist, physically of only that area reserved for guest registration. In a larger property the front office may include several staff members, each responsible for a portion of the office`s management or operation.

Regardless of its size, the front office must be organized to manage its key tasks and areas of responsibility.

TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY GROWTH + economicaly

Tourism and hospitality, which are inextricably linked to each other, are among

the major revenue-earning enterprises in the world. They happen to be among

the top employers too. There has been an up market trend in tourism over the

last few decades as travel has become quite common. People travel for business, vacation, pleasure, adventure, or even medical treatment. The present-day tourist, who has higher levels of disposable income, international exposure, and refined tastes, wants specialized versions of products and services, such as quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays, or commercial hotels. This has led to a demand for better quality products and services, mainly regarding accommodation and travelling, thus feeding the growth of the hospitality industry as a whole.

The developments in technology and transport infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost airlines, and more accessible airports have made tourism affordable and convenient. There have also been changes in lifestyle-for example, now retiree-age people sustain tourism round the year. The sales of tourism products on the Internet, besides the aggressive marketing of tour operators and travel agencies, have also contributed to the growth of tourism.

With several business-related activities associated with tourism, the industry

has a tremendous potential of generating employment as well as earning foreign exchange. There are many countries in the world, such as Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, and Caribbean, whose economies are primarily driven by tourism. Tourism can contribute to the economic growth of a country in the following ways:

Employment generation: It creates a large number of jobs among direct service

providers (such as, hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tour operators, guide and tour escorts, etc.) and among indirect service providers (such as, suppliers to hotels and restaurants, supplementary accommodation, etc.).

Infrastructure development: Tourism spurs infrastructure development. In order

to become an important commercial or pleasure destination, any location

would require all the necessary infrastructure, like good connectivity via rail,

road, and air transport, adequate accommodation, restaurants, a well-developed telecommunication network, and medical facilities, among others.

Foreign exchange: The people who travel to other countries spend a large amount of money on accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, etc. Thus, an inbound tourist is an important source of foreign exchange for any country.

HOTELS DEFINITION AND CORE AREAS

The term hotel was used for the first time by the fifth Duke of Devonshire to name a lodging property in London sometime in AD 1760. The word hotel is derived from the French hA?tel, which refers to a French version of townhouse. Historically in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and several other countries, a townhouse was the residence of a peer or an aristocrat in the capital or major cities.

A hotel or an inn is defined by the British Law as a ‘place where a bonafide

traveller can receive food and shelter, provided he is in a position to pay for it

and is in a fit condition to be received’. Hence, a hotel must provide food (and

beverage) and lodging to a traveller on payment, but the hotel has the right to

refuse if the traveller is not presentable (either drunk, or disorderly, or unkempt)

or is not in a position to pay for the services. Alternatively, a hotel may be defined as ‘an establishment whose primary business is to provide lodging facilities to a genuine traveller along with food, beverage, and sometimes recreational facilities too on chargeable basis’. Though there are other establishments such as hospitals, college hostels, prisons, and sanatoriums, which offer accommodation, they do not qualify as hotels since they do not cater to the specific needs of a traveller.

A hotel is thus an establishment that provides paid accommodation, generally

for a short duration of stay. Hotels often provide a number of additional guest

services, such as restaurants, bar, swimming pool, healthcare, retail shops;

business facilities like conference halls, banquet halls, board rooms; and space for private parties like birthdays, marriages, kitty parties, etc. Most of the modem

hotels nowadays provide the basic facilities in a room-a bed, a cupboard, a small table, weather control (air conditioner or heater), and bathroom-along with other features like a telephone with STD/ISD facility, a television set with cable channel, and broadband/Wi-Fi Internet connectivity. There might also be a mini-bar containing snacks and drinks (the consumption of the same is added to the guest’s bill), and tea and coffee making unit having an electric kettle, cups, spoons, and sachets containing instant coffee, tea bags, sugar, and creamer.

Areas of a Hotel: An Overview

The organization of a hotel today is very complex and comprises various

departments. The number of departments varies from one establishment to another. All departments may have their own managers, reporting to the general manager and the assistant general manager.

The front office is where my principal research were held during this task:

This department is headed by the front office manager, the front office department is the operational department that is responsible for welcoming and registering guests, allocating rooms, and helping guests check out. Uniformed services like concierge and bell desk, and EPBAX operators are part of the front office department.

-Hotels are commercial establishment that provide accommodation, meals and other guest services. In general, to be called a hotel, an establishment must have a minimum of six guestsaa‚¬a„? rooms, at least three of which must have attached private bathroom facilities.

Although hotels are classified into `star` categories, there is no standard method of assigning these ratings, and compliance with customary requirements is voluntary. An American hotel with certain rating, for example, may look very different from a European or Asian hotel with the same rating, and would provide a different level of amenities, range of facilities, and quality of service. Although hotel chains assure uniform standards throughout, non-chain hotels (even within the same country) may not agree on the same standards.

In the travel and tourism industry, the hotel industry plays a very significant role, as all tourists need a place to stay at their destinations, and require many more services and facilities to suit their specific needs and tastes.

FUNCTIONS (FRONT OFFICE)

Front office is the first department of the hotel with which guests come in contact at the time of their arrival and also the last department they interact with when they depart from the hotel. This department performs various functions like reservation, reception, registration, room assignment, and settlement of bills of a resident guest.

This chapter is aimed at providing an understanding of the organization of the

front office department. Here, we will study the various sections of the front office

and their functions, the organization of the front office staff, and the qualities,

attributes, duties and responsibilities of front office personnel.

FUNCTION AREAS

The front office personnel are mostly in direct contact with guests throughout

their stay. Guests contact the front desk to book a room; check-in; inquire about

hotel services, facilities, and about the city or surrounding areas; and finally, to

settle bills and check out from the hotel. Apart from these services, the front desk also provides services like handling guest mails and messages, maintaining guest accounts, paging guests (locating guests within the hotel), arranging travel services, and various other services as per the guest’s requirement.

The front office is the contact point between the guest, management, and other

departments. It handles guests’ complaints, dispatches housekeeping and engineering requests, prints and files reports, receives and answers phone calls, and sends and receives faxes. Thus, the front office personnel perform the following functions:

Sell hotel rooms to guests, which may be standard or deluxe rooms, executive or presidential suites, etc.

Accept advance booking of hotel rooms through telephone, fax, e-mail,

websites, etc.

Receive and register guests when they arrive at the hotel and assign them rooms according to their preferences-smoking/non-smoking, pool view/ garden view/sea view, high floor/low floor, near the elevator/far from the elevator, etc.

Maintain accurate room status information.

Maintain guest accounts and monitor credit.

Handle guests’ demands and complaints.

Prepare account statements of guests.

Settle bills at the time of check-out.

Coordinate guest services like handling of guest mails and messages, locating guests within the hotel premises, connecting guest telephone calls, keeping guests’ valuables in safety deposit lockers, handling of room keys, making sundry payments on behalf of guests, and so on.

Provide information about the hotel’s facilities and services, the city, important events, festivals and shows, and places of tourist interest.

FRONT OFFICE LAYOUT

-For the efficient and smooth functioning of a department, it is important to divide it in sections and delegate tasks accordingly.

-The front office department is divided in sections:

*Reservation / Reception / Information desk / Cash and bills / travel desk / Communication / Uniformed services (which include bell desk and concierge)

-A well designed layout should involve proper space utilization, aimed at improving the efficiency and control of the staff. The front desk should be located at a prominent place in the lobby for example.

-the hotel lobby is an area furnished with seating arrangements just inside the hotel, where hotel guests and their visitors can meet and wait.

-located just beyond the entrance to the hotel, the lobby is the first and last point of guest contact with the hotel.

-A well-appointed lobby creates an impression about the overall standard of the hotel in the eyes of the guests.

RESERVATION

While planning business or pleasure trips, people like to ensure that they will have a safe and comfortable accommodation at their respective destinations. This can be achieved by booking a room of their choice in advance.

.

The reservation section of the front office department of a hotel is responsible

for receiving and processing reservation queries. Depending upon the level of

automation, volume of business, and house customs, the procedure of processing reservation queries may differ from hotel to hotel in terms of reservations handling, maintenance of reservation records, confirmation, amendment, and cancellation of reservations. This section is headed by a reservation manager, who is assisted by a reservation supervisor and a team of reservation clerks or assistants.

Layout of the Reservation Section

The location of the reservation section depends upon the size of hotel and the volume of business of the hotel. In a very small hotel, the function of reservations can be performed by the front desk. In a large hotel, a separate section is needed, which should preferably be located behind the reception counter and should have a communication door between the reception and reservation sections.

Functions of the Reservation Section

The following functions are performed by the reservation section:

-Receiving reservation requests through various means like telephone, fax,

e-mail, websites, sales representatives, or central reservations department.

-Processing reservation requests received from all means on the hotel property

management system (PMS).

-Depending upon the availability of desired room type and projected sales during and around the requested stay dates, the reservation, waitlisted, or denied.

-Updating the room availability status after each reservation transaction, i.e., after each confirmation, amendment and cancellation.

-Maintaining and updating reservation records to reflect accurate information about room status.

-Preparing reservation reports for the management.

RECEPTION

This section of the front office receives and welcomes guests on their arrival in the hotel. It is headed by a supervisor and comprises a team of receptionists and front desk assistants. The personnel of this section procure all the necessary information about the guest to complete the registration process. After finishing the registration formalities, a room is assigned to the guest, and a bell boy carries the luggage and escorts the guest to her room. The entire process is carried out professionally in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Layout of the Reception Section

The reception section is located in close proximity to the entrance of the hotel. The layout of the section depends upon the size of the hotel and the volume of business generated by it. The front desk assistant carries out many tasks like receiving guests, registration, etc.; hence, the reception area should be designed in such a way to assist the staff in performing their tasks efficiently and effectively. The front desk may be circular, L-shaped, curved, or straight depending upon the requirement.

Functions of Reception

The following functions are performed by the reception section of hotel:

-Receiving and welcoming guests.

-Completing the registration formalities.

-Assigning the room.

-Sending arrival notification slips to the concerned departments.

INFORMATION DESK

As the name suggests, the information desk provides information to guests. It is

manned by an information assistant. In a small hotel, the same function may be

performed by the receptionist. The need of a separate information desk is felt in

large hotels where the traffic of guests is higher. The information desk may be

located next to the reception.

Functions of Information Desk

Some of the functions of the information desk are as under:

-Maintaining resident guest rack.

-Handling guest room keys.

-Coordinating guest mails, telegrams, faxes, couriers, parcels, etc.

-Providing information to guests regarding hotel facilities and services, city

information, etc.

-Handling guests messages.

-Paging guests.

CASH AND BILLS

The cash and bills section records all the monetary transactions of guests. It maintains guest folios and prepares the guest bills to be settled by the guest at the time of departure. This section is headed by a cashier.

Functions of the Cash and Bills Section

This section performs the following tasks:

-Opening and maintaining of guest folios.

-Posting room charges in guest folios.

-Recording all credit charges in guest folios.

-Maintaining a record of the cash received from guests.

-Preparing bills at the time of check-out.

-Receiving cash/travellers cheques/demand draft for account settlement.

-Handling credit! debit! charge cards for the settlement of a guest account.

-Organizing foreign currency exchange for the settlement of a guest account.

Travel Desk

The travel desk takes care of travel arrangements of guests, like air-ticketing,

railway reservations, sightseeing tours, airport or railway station pick up or drop,

etc. The hotel may operate the travel desk or it may be outsourced to an external travel agency.

Functions of Travel desk

The travel desk performs the following tasks:

-Arranging pick-up and drop services for guests at the time of their arrival

and departure.

-Providing vehicles on request to guests at pre-determined rates (charged

kilometre/hour wise and depend on the kind and size of vehicle used-

premium cars, semi-luxury cars, coaches, mini vans, etc.)

-Making travel arrangements like railway reservations/ cancellations/

amendments, or purchasing air-tickets for guests.

-Organizing half-day or full-day sightseeing tours in and around the city.

-Arranging for guides who can communicate in the guest’s language.

COMMUNICATION SECTION

The communication section maintains the communication network of the hotel,

which is generally quite complex. The hotel may have its own private branch

exchange (PBX), along with post and telegraph lines. Earlier all outgoing calls

were routed through the telephone operator. This was done to ensure proper

accounting of outgoing calls. Switchboard operators were required to place wake- up calls, monitor automated systems, and coordinate emergency communications.

Recent technological advancement in telecommunications has revolutionized the way hotels operations are run. Now guests are able to make outgoing calls without routing them through the operator. There is a computerized call accounting system that charges the outgoing calls to the guest’s account. Wake-up calls may also be registered on the system, which dials the guest’s extension at the pre-registered time and plays a pre-recorded message when answered. So hotels can now manage with lesser number of telephone operators per shift. The telephone operators, who answer incoming calls, protect the guests’ privacy and contribute to the hotel’s security programme by not revealing guest room numbers to any unauthorized person. Many hotels also provide guest paging services over the public address system. These systems generally operate through the communications section.

Functions of Communication Desk

The duties of the telephone operator include:

-Answering incoming calls.

-Directing calls to guest rooms through the switchboard/PABX system.

-Providing information on guest services.

-Processing guest wake-up calls.

-Answering inquiries about hotel facilities and events.

-Protecting guests’ privacy.

-Coordinating emergency communication.

.
UNIFORMED SERVICES

The uniformed services in the hotel include the bell desk team and the concierge.

Bell Desk

The bell desk is located very close to the main entrance of the hotel. This section is headed by a bell captain, who leads a team of bell boys (also called bellhops) and page boys. They handle the guest luggage from the guest vehicle to the lobby and to guest rooms at the time of arrival and from their rooms to the guest vehicle at the time of departure. They escort guests to their rooms and familiarize them with hotel facilities, safety features, as well as in-room facilities.

The bell desk person is the last front desk employee who comes in contact with guests at the time of their departure.

Functions of bell desk

The bell desk is responsible for the following tasks:

-Handling guest luggage at the time of arrival and departure

-Escorting guests to their rooms on arrival.

-Familiarizing guests about safety features and in-room facilities.

-Providing information to guests about hotel facilities and services when asked.

-Locating a guest in a specified area of the hotel.

-Posting guest mails.

-Making sundry purchases like postage stamps, medicine etc. for the guest.

-Keeping guest luggage in the left luggage room if requested by the guest. aa‚¬”

-Checking if in-room amenities are in their original condition at the time of departure of guests.

CONCIERGE

A concierge is a hotel employee who provides information and personalized services to guests like dinner reservations, tour and travel arrangements,

and obtaining tickets for special events in the city, etc. A concierge is often expected to achieve the impossible, dealing with any request a guest may have, relying on an extensive list of personal contacts with various local merchants and service providers. The concept of concierges came from the days of European royalty; the concierge was the castle doorkeeper in those times. His duty was to ensure that all castle occupants were safe in their rooms at night. When the royal families travelled, they often took their concierges with them for security and for making food and lodging arrangements. As the hotel industry grew, concierges became a part of the hotel staff to provide personalized services to hotel guests.

Functions of concierge

The concierge provides the following services to guests:

-Making reservations for dining in famous restaurants.

-Obtaining tickets for theatres, musicals, sporting events, etc.

-Arranging for transportation by limousine, car, coaches, buses, airplanes,

or trains.

-Providing information on cultural and social events like photo exhibitions, art

shows, and local places of tourist interest.

++++++++++++++++++++++
GUEST CYCLE

The guests of a hotel have four main stages interaction with the hotel aa‚¬” at pre-arrival / arrival / stay / departure. All guests go through the same procedure as they proceed from reservation to arrival and allotment of rooms, to their stay in the hotel, to the settlement of their bills and departure from the hotel, these various stages of activities constitute the guest cycle.

PRE-ARRIVAL

The interaction between a guest and a hotel before the guest arrives at the hotel forms the pre-arrival phase of the guest cycle. Reservation is the most important pre-arrival activity. During this phase, the guest first selects a hotel for stay.

The guest’s choice about a particular hotel is affected by factors. Like advertisements, recommendations from family and friends, previous experience with the hotel, reputation, location, contractual agreement with the hotel, etc. Once a hotel has been chosen, the guest or a person designated by him (who could be his secretary or spouse or a travel agent) contacts the selected hotel through telephone, e- mail, or fax for reserving a room for the period of his proposed stay.

The reservation request is received by the reservation staff, whose efficiency and

competence in handling the request creates a good first impression of the hotel in

the mind of the guest.

Before confirming a reservation, the hotel may ask for a credit card guarantee

or an advance deposit from the guest. In case of high occupancy periods, guests

are requested to pay retention charges. This is to ensure minimum loss to the hotel

in case of any last moment cancellations or no shows. Once the retention charges

have been paid, the room is reserved or ‘blocked’ for the guest for the required

stay dates. The hotel also makes note of any special arrangements to be made, like a wheelchair and a barrier free room; airport or railway station transfers; an extra bed or crib in the room; etc.

Thus the functions of the front office in the pre-arrival phase include:

Processing the reservation request of the guest.

Creation of guest folio (in case the hotel has received any advance payment).

Blocking the room for the guest.

Making special arrangements for the guest (if required).

The data collected during the process of reservation can be utilized in future front

office and sales activities. A well-managed reservation system can maximize the

room sales and revenue by constantly monitoring the room status and forecasting

the room revenue.

ARRIVAL

Guests have their first face-to-face interaction with the hotel staff on their arrival at

the hotel. This is a very critical stage as guests form an opinion about the standards

and services that the hotel can provide to them. During this phase, guests are greeted by the front desk staff and the registration process begins. The guests are asked to verify the details printed in the registration card – these details are generated from the information received in the pre-arrival stage.

The registration activity is an agreement between the hotel and the guest, whereby the hotel offers the accommodation product and services to the guest, and the guest agrees to pay for the services received. A hotel might pre-register guests (i.e., register guests before their arrival) like VIPs, groups, airline crews, and frequent guests.

Once the guests have been registered with the hotel, they are assigned a room at the negotiated room rate. The guest is then shown to their room and their luggage is brought to the room by the bell desk. If any mails or messages have arrived at the

hotel before the arrival of the guest, they are given to her.

Thus the functions of the front office on the arrival of a guest include:

-Reception and welcome of the guest

-Registration of the guest

-Room rate and room assignment to the guest.

-Handing over the room key to the guest.

-Luggage handling of the guest by bell desk.

-Delivering the mails and messages that the hotel has received on behalf of

the guest.

The front office staff maintains lists of expected arrivals and departures on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. They keep updating these lists, along with the arrival and departure details, and keep the other departments informed of any changes in the schedule of guests. This is very essential to provide a flawless service to guests and to avoid embarrassing situations like not arranging for the pick-up of a guest, or not having the room ready in time and making the guest wait for it.

STAY

During this stage the guest gets a first-hand experience of the facilities and services

offered by the hotel. These services and facilities are the most important part of a guest’s overall experience at a hotel. An excellent level of services would lead to the satisfaction of the guest, which would make him, come back to the hotel and give positive feedback to other potential customers.

The front office is the interface between the guest and the other departments of the hotel, so it must coordinate well

Tourism Theories and Practices

“What do tourists do and why?” Critically discuss

Tourism industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing industry and largest employers in the modern world. This sheer vastness of the industry is understood from the fact that the numbers of tourists worldwide are anticipated to be doubled to one billion plus by the end of 2010.(Kamra, p 184)

This essay will discuss in brief the different theories of tourism which define tourist behavior, their roles, activities and motivations which in turn influence the industry.

Thesis statement: Tourists and their thought process, their behavior and motivations are centrifugal to the concept of tourism. Many scholars have tried to define the typology of the tourists, their classifications in order to understand the concept of tourism.

The essay will outline some of the old theories and the modern day approach and why there is a need for more research based studies to exploit the potential of this industry.

Meaning of tourism-What is tourism

Michel Eyquem De Montaigne said, “A man should ever be ready booted to take his journey.”

Man because of his gregarious nature is bound to travel from one place to another to fulfill his various needs be it social, emotional or physical. Traveling is thus characteristic to human society on the whole.

Travel and tourism was traditionally considered as a luxury item. But with the turn of the century, definition of travel and tourism has evolved. Tourism no longer stands for simple traveling or temporary journeys and stays mainly for pleasure, leisure and or recreational purposes or a luxury element. Twentieth century ushered in the paradigm shift in the concept of tourism. In fact it will not be unjustified to say that there has been transition from the 19th and early 20th century concept of tourism as an exercise in leisure and pleasure domain to the concept of tourism as an exercise in business, economics. It is more of a consumer product; tourism industry is a vibrant market where tourism products can be sold now as any other consumer product, consumer here is the tourist. (Kamra, p 157)

According to statistics brought out by the statistics of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in 1994, tourism contributed 12 per cent of the world’s Gross National Product. (Kamra, 12)

Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industry employing hundreds of millions of people worldwide, which explains the reason why the study of the tourism and tourism research has become so important in not only the academic field but also for the economy on the whole.

Modern day tourism is much more than simple traveling; it is pure economics, which is determined by theories of demand, and supply, which brings in the question of sustainability. Tourism is no more synonymous to traveling.

Today tourism is just like a normal consumer product, which is driven by market dynamics, demand supply, sold through retail outlets. It no longer remains a luxury of the upper class but has become a mass product for the growing consumer market, in this case the growing tourist community. (Swarbrooke and Horner – p 4)

In fact there has been a combination of factors which have resulted in the proliferation of tourism industry. The prime being increased leisure, higher incomes of burgeoning middle class. One of the main drivers to growth in the coming era would be the growing middle class.

The study of tourism theories and practices therefore would mainly revolve around the needs, motivations, role, experiences of the the tourists. What do tourists do and why?

The most general classification of tourists is on the basis of the needs of the tourist. This would mainly classify the entire tourist community into two groups-the traveler and the tourist.

While the former is mainly conceived as one who would basically travel to understand the place and thus would rather prefer longer trips and would plan it individually. The latter classified, as a tourist in layman’s version would be characterized as one with superficial interest. One who would indulge in shorter trips and group tours or charters and would mainly depend on tour agents. But this classification is very vague.

Motivations

Most of the tourists travel for change of environment because of which new concepts of tourism like eco-tourism, rural tourism have come into existence. Cultural attractions, education, gaining knowledge about new cultures might be other important motivations. For example attraction towards Buddhist culture has made Myanmar and some parts of North East India a major hub for Buddhist tourists from all around the world. People from all around the world travel to these places to get experience the Buddhist spirit. There can be other motivations also like quest for new experience, personal visits etc.

Some of the most prevalent theories of destination development and classification of tourists

Some scholars have tried to classify the tourist on the basis of their needs, which explains the reason for their travel. For example a tourist can be classified as explorer, elite, offbeat, unusual, mass or charter on the basis of his/her demand.

While an explorer tourist group will want discovery, adventure, exploration, a elite tourist might have a special personally customized tailored trip to any exotic places. Or for example an offbeat tourist might travel to get away from the crowds.

The classification according to demand describes the main purpose of travel. There can be a pure mass group also under the demand-based classification where the tourist might prefer normal tour packages and holiday trips to conventional places.

Thus classification on the basis of demand to a large extent determines the needs and the activities of the tourists.

There can also be classification on the basis of the meaning and requirement, where tourists might travel for the sake of simple recreation, diversion, experiential, experimental reasons. There can be also motivational based classification. Understanding the motive behind traveling might help to predict consumer psyche.

An American researcher named Plog (Mason 26) put forth his theory based on the psychology of tourists and these were published in 1973. Plog’s theory was based on a case study conducted on New York residents and their attitudes to travel.

Plog’s discussed the tourist behavior and motivations based on the psychology of the tourists. Thus there are two types of tourists, the allo-centric and psycho-centric types of tourist. He argued that there are particular psychological types who do not like unfamiliar environments or cultures, so when they select a holiday they will seek the familiar regions than unfamiliar remote regions (these he termed psycho-centric).

Plog further added that there are still some groups in society who will be prepared to risk a far more uncertain holiday destination. These tourists will search for strange or unfamiliar and these he termed allo-centric.

While the psycho-centric would not travel far from the local environment the allo-centric would travel long distances to unfamiliar locations. He concluded that the majority of the tourists were neither fully psycho- centric nor fully allo-centric.

Rather most of the tourists were located in the center point between the two extremes of psycho-centric and allo-centric.And that majority of the tourists would seek the familiar and prefer not to travel great distances to get there.

An important point that emerged from the destination development of Plog’s theory is that different tourists destinations are attractive to different types of tourists based on the kind of traveler they are, psycho or allo-centric and that majority of the tourists will prefer to travel for short distances than longer ones to go for holidays.

Thus it suggests that the tourist destinations in most of the developed countries which are in close proximity to major population areas, busy areas, markets, residential areas are likely to be developed and grow more quickly than those in the distant remote areas.

However, in actual practice, sometimes this theory may also prove wrong. On the contrary many of the remote areas are now getting faster developed than those near the major population areas.

While Plog’s theory was based more on the psychological part of tourists, Erik Cohen’s theory relate to the behavior of the tourists. Erik Cohen who developed a classification of tourists where there was a four chief classification.

First was the organized mass tourists who travel in groups, who prefer packaged holiday (travel, accommodation, food etc.) usually arranged by a travel agent.

The second type was the individual mass tourists who use the same facilities as the organized mass tourists, but the difference lies only in decision making. This group makes more individual based decisions about their activity and trip. There are also the explorers and the drifters.

While explorers would most often arrange their own trips, meet and interact with the locals drifters avoid all contact with other tourists and leave with the locals. This classification of tourists lives longer than the other groups.

If both the above mentioned tourist theories which basically delve into the characteristics of human behavioral aspects are combined then we would see that majority of Cohen’s mass tourist and independent mass tourists would converge with Plog’s psycho-centric tourists.

Later in the mid 1970s, Doxey proposed the Irritation Index or the Irridex. The Irridex was based on the relationship between the tourists and the locals.

The fundamental idea as it is evident from the name of the index itself is that over a time period as the number of tourist increase in a particular area, a greater irritation and hatred would build up amongst the locals towards the tourists.

So, over the time as the locals gets more irritant with the visitors and become hostile, the number of visitors might actually decline or might not continue to grow at the same rate as previously.

But the problem with most of these theories was that most of them were not based on proper field research but on discussions.

Butler’s Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) (Mason, 33) model on tourism which is still the most widely accepted and important theory deals with a particular destination, his theory explains how a destination emerge as a tourist destination after several stages.

Butler suggested a model where a tourism destination develops over time as a result of several factors. Destination is a very important element in tourism. A destination is defined most widely as a product is marketed to its consumers. And like all other products, tourist destinations also have a life cycle. Butler proposed a model for tourism area life cycle in which he showed how a destination begins as a relatively unknown place and visitors first come in small fractions because of lack of access, facilities and local knowledge (Miller and Galluci, 2004)

The key point in Butler’s model was that planning and proper remedial action by the tourists can help arrest the decline in resorts and tourism infrastructure.

One of the major challenges that the World Tourism Organization made in its Global Forecasts for the year 2000 and beyond is the issue of sustainability, which relates to the absorptive capacity of an economy with respect to tourism.

This does not refer to the physical capacity alone but also to the capacity of a particular area to provide tourism infrastructure, pool in investments, manpower, and natural resources.

While manpower would not be a constraint, other natural resources might be. The theory of sustainable tourism thus off late has emerged of greater relevance, which is necessary to promote environmental awareness and boost tourism industry on the whole.

Sustainable tourism in a nutshell can be explained as a means by which tourist growth is achieved as well as environment and earth’s scarce resources are preserved.

Apart from the environment issue another burning issue, which might emerge as an impediment is lack of trained skilled workforce to deliver value additions.

In conclusion it can be said that although several tourism theories have been put forth by several scholars to determine the roles and activities, the characteristics of tourists to boost the industry. There is a general lack of awareness about these theories amidst the policy makers. Tourism industry is still one of those industries, which is regulated by government administration. There are wide varieties of conceptual and theoretical approaches to tourism, which have to be tested in reality. This apart there is a further need for more field studies and employment of professionals in conducting the research, which will help achieve greater theoretical orientation and practical application.

The tourism industry has been growing at a phenomenal rate for the last fifty year especially, after the Second World War. The recession has had an effect on the industry, but the numbers of tourists worldwide are anticipated to be doubled to one billion plus by the end of 2010.

Keeping in tune with the changing times consumer demands will also change, more classifications based on growing needs of tourists might emerge.

What can be the cultural and social impact of tourism development

Researchers have identified a whole gamut of positive impacts of tourism development on societies. For example the direct outcomes of tourism development would be the modification of the internal structure of the community, increasing employment opportunities of the local residents, social change, economic affluence, improvement of the quality of life through infrastructure development. Similarly the interaction between the host and tourist increases tolerance and communication skills etc.

On the cultural side the arts, crafts and culture of the local area might be revived. Researchers have also identified several cons like deployment of natural resources, increased pressure on existing infrastructure, commodification of culture and its negative effects etc (Beeton 18)

Thus it can be seen in the essay how tourist behavioral needs, motivations, actions directly and indirectly affect tourism development in a place. Only right kind of practices would be able to give the necessary boost to this industry, which alone will contribute the largest chunk in global trade.

Understanding the needs and motivations of the tourists will help boost tourism industry manifolds. What is required is the right approach. Tourists’ behavior research in tourism has to be based on motivations, typologies, destination choices and the decision process. While this is good some scholars criticize it as stereotypical and generalized which might not be the same in reality. The gap between the theories and the reality can be bridged through research and constant study of tourist behavior.

References

K Kamra 1997, “Tourism: Theory, Planning and Practice”,

Second Edition-2008

Peter Mason, “Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management”

Online book version), Second edition- 2008,

Mason, P. & Cheyne, J. (2000).” Residents’ Attitudes to Proposed Tourism Development, Annals of Tourism Research.”

Peter Mason, “Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management” Second Edition

Abraham Pizam, Yoel Mansfeld, “Consumer behaviour in travel and tourism” Softcover edition published 2000

John Swarbrooke, Susan Horner, 2007, Consumer behaviour in tourism, Edition: 2, p 4, 428 pages

Sue Beeton 2006, “Community Development through Tourism.”, p 18.